Hempel Passive Fire Protection
Intumescent coatings that protect structural steel during a fire — buying critical time for evacuation and emergency response.
Protecting Steel When It Matters Most
Structural steel is one of the most widely used materials in modern buildings — stadiums, airports, shopping malls, office towers and data centres. In a fire, unprotected steel can lose its strength and integrity within minutes.
A thin-film intumescent coating changes that. Under fire conditions it expands into an insulating char that slows the temperature rise in the steel, helping it keep its load-bearing capacity for longer. That extra time is what allows people to evacuate and emergency services to respond.
Koyenco Trading supplies Hempel’s cellulosic intumescent coatings and helps you select the right system for your fire rating, steel profile and environment.
How Passive Fire Protection Works
An intumescent coating stays thin and unremarkable in everyday conditions, but reacts the moment a fire starts. Heat triggers it to swell many times its original thickness into an insulating char that shields the steel underneath. The three stages below show how a thin coat of paint becomes a fire barrier.
Thin film in normal conditions
Applied as a thin coating, the intumescent looks like any other painted finish and protects the steel from corrosion.
Expands under fire
When exposed to fire, the coating swells into a thick, low-conductivity char layer.
Insulates the steel
The char slows heat reaching the steel, delaying the point at which it loses strength — buying time for evacuation and response.
Hempafire and Hempacore Systems
Hempel's cellulosic intumescent range covers fire ratings from 30 minutes up to 4 hours, across almost all steel profiles. Products fall into two families: Hempacore (the established, globally trusted range) and Hempafire (the newer, higher-efficiency range).
Hempacore AQ
Water-based, very low VOC. Suited to on-site work needing low emissions.
Hempacore One / One FD
One-product solution for all fire ratings and profiles, wide coverage. Warm-condition (One) and cold-condition (One FD) versions.
Hempafire Pro 315 / FD
Fast-dry, market-leading DFTs for 30- and 60-minute ratings. Most sections protected in a single coat. Warm and cold versions.
Hempafire Pro 320 / FD
An evolution of the Pro 315 family, optimised for 4-sided open sections with even lower DFTs.
Hempafire Pro 400 / FD
Market-leading DFTs for 90- and 120-minute ratings. One-product solution for all steel sections.
Hempafire Optima 500
Water-based, very low VOC, high-build coats with quick recoat times.
Hempafire Optima 510
An evolution of Optima 500, specialised for light steel sections with high Hp/A.
Hempafire Extreme 550
Epoxy passive fire protection for the longest fire ratings — up to 4 hours — and demanding environments; resistant to mechanical damage.
Primer, Intumescent, Topcoat
Fire protection is delivered as a compatible three-part system, not a single coat. Each layer has a job.
Primer
Intumescent
Topcoat
Why Hempel PFP
Efficiency Without Compromising Safety
Higher DFT per coat means the required protection can be delivered in fewer coats — faster completion on and off site.
Fast-dry products give shorter intervals before overcoating, speeding up fabrication throughput.
Lower loadings reduce paint usage and material cost compared with similar products.
Single products cover all steel profiles, so applicators don't need to stock multiple materials.
Primers, intumescents and topcoats are covered by third-party Environmental Product Declarations (EPDs) and can contribute to LEED® and BREEAM® credits.