Assessment of lignin as a carbon source in intumescent coatings containing polyaniline

Lignin, a vegetable compound, is the second most abundant biorenewable and biodegradable polymer in nature. In this study, the addition of this compound to paints containing ammonium polyphosphate (APP) and expandable graphite as pigments was investigated to improve the fire protection performance of intumescent coatings. The combination of lignin with polyaniline (PANI) in the formulations was also evaluated, as previous studies have shown that PANI-based paints show promising results in intumescent coatings. For this purpose, the thermal protection of mild steel samples coated with these organic coatings was evaluated during a fire resistance test, with the sample exposed to a Bunsen torch. During the test, temperature data and thermography images for the steel surface were collected. The coatings were also evaluated by thermogravimetric analysis and microscale combustion calorimetry. It was found that all coatings formulated provided good fire protection to the steel substrate and the lignin could be a good option to replace nonrenewable sources in intumescent paints, since the sample coated with the paint containing 10 wt% lignin reached 230°C after 30 min of assay. In addition, when this compound was used in combination with PANI, the flame protection was even better. The best performance was observed for the paint formulated with combination of 10 wt% lignin and 10 wt% PANI-ES, whose metal substrate temperature was 170°C after 30 min of assay.