<p><strong>Summary</strong></p> <p>An intumescent coating can be qualified or disqualified for use simply because it falls above or below a certain magical hardness level, usually as measured on the Shore D scale. But hardness has no influence on performance, and the Shore D scale just doesn’t make sense when assessing softer intumescent technology types. Fireproofing industry veteran Michael Hollman explains the consequences of misusing Shore D hardness in intumescent coating specifications.</p> <p>Also, Michael worries that his brother-in-law might soon beat him at snooker.</p> <p><strong>Timestamps</strong></p> <ul> <li>00:00 - Introduction</li> <li>03:01 - How the industry's understanding of hardness has evolved</li> <li>05:55 - Durometers' importance in measuring coating hardness</li> <li>07:31 - Matching different Shore scales to different coating technologies</li> <li>09:39 - When standards are &quot;cut-and-pasted&quot; without context</li> <li>13:34 - Harder is not universally better</li> <li>18:15 - Elasticity, damage resistance, and impact recovery</li> <li>21:12 - Viewing Shore values as a reference point, not a product differentiator</li> <li>22:40 - The four questions</li> </ul>