Hempel Launches Passive Fire Protection Coating

Hempel’s new generation fire-protection coating – Hempafire Optima 500 – is specifically designed to improve the productivity of passive fire protection coating applications.

It achieves this by reducing the number of coats required and the process time required to apply them.

Hempafire Optima 500 helps to maintain the stability of steel structures in large infrastructure buildings such as airports, stadiums and commercial centers by delivering up to 180 minutes protection against cellulosic fires, being optimized for 120 minutes. It is a one-component waterborne acrylic intumescent coating with with less than one percent of volatile organic compounds (VOC) and can be used for both open or closed steel sections. 

Hempafire Optima 500 is fast drying and highly resistant to sagging. The application, which can be delivered in two days as part of Hempel’s PFP system, outperforms in warm conditions and provides two-hour fire protection in ISO 12944 C3 interior environments. It dries to an excellent aesthetic finish meaning there is minimum surface reworks to achieve the required cosmetic finish when applying a topcoat. The ease of application allows customers to improve their painting process by reducing the number of coats needed, minimizing drying times and maximizing the speed of the application.

“When developing Hempafire Optima 500, we created a coating to enhance efficiency for customers by increasing their productivity and reducing costs. Thickness build-up of the coating can be achieved in fewer coats that dry faster. Thus, application costs and time to deliver are reduced,” said Roger Soler, Hempel’s group product manager, Cellulosic PFP. “We also wanted a coating that outperforms in warm climates such as those found in the Middle East and in parts of Europe. We’ve managed to achieve this without compromising the protection or the aesthetic finish.

“At 40ºC, it comfortably holds up 750 microns (μm) dry film thickness (DFT) per coat and can be overcoated in just three hours,” Soler continued. “For applications where speed is the key, coats of 500 μm DFT can be applied every 75 minutes and recoated with a PU topcoat after 16 hours. This means that the whole system – primer, PFP, and topcoat – can be applied and dry to handle within a 48-hour period.”

Hempafire Optima 500 is now available in the Middle East and will soon be available in certain countries in Europe.