Study of the relationship between thermal insulation behavior and microstructure of a fire-resistant gel containing silica during heating

Summary Adding a transparent gel containing silica between 2 sheets of glass could improve the fire resistance of laminated glazing by its thermal intumescent behavior at high temperature. In this study, a custom fire test shows that the glazing reaches the highest thermal insulation rating of 40 minutes when the molar ratio of SiO2 and Na2O in the gel is 4.0, but above this ratio, the thermal insulation rating of the glazing decreases with the increasing silica content. Thermal and scanning electron microscopic analyses have been used to investigate the thermal behavior and microstructure of the residual layer, respectively. The results indicate that, although the high silica content is responsible for the high amount of residue that is essential in the formation of a protection barrier between fire-exposed and unexposed sides of the glass, it is not the only factor that resulted in the improved thermal insulation of the glazing.