Skip to main content
Sister Publication Links
  • Middle East Foam & Polyurethane
  • UTECH Asia/PU China
  • UTECH Europe
  • UTECH Las Americas
Subscribe
  • My Account
  • Login
  • Subscribe
  • Coronavirus
  • News
    • Asia
    • Americas
    • Europe
    • M & A
    • Financial results
    • Automotive
    • Japan's lacklustre PU production continued in November 2020
      PU prevents freezing damage to railway tunnels
      Huafon estimates 2020 profit will be up to 40% higher than 2019
      Construction starts for Jason Furniture plants in China and Vietnam
    • World automotive registrations recover in H2 2020
      Mlily to increase US market share following anti-dumping duties
      US footwear imports up 25% in November 2020
      Introducing UTECH Southeast Asia 2022
    • EC approves Kingspan's TeraSteel and Wetterbest purchases
      BTC Europe to distribute BASF’s polyurethane ingredients
      World automotive registrations recover in H2 2020
      Bosnian producer to invest in new PU panel factory
    • PPG buys polyurea company Versaflex
      Recticel buys FoamPartner
      Recticel upgrades Q3 outlook despite raw material tightness
      Covestro broadens PU portfolio with DSM purchase
    • Huafon estimates 2020 profit will be up to 40% higher than 2019
      Mlily to increase US market share following anti-dumping duties
      Stellar Q4 performance saves Wanhua 2020 earnings
      2020 proved fruitful for Vitafoam Nigeria
    • World automotive registrations recover in H2 2020
      Car sales down 25% in Western Europe in 2020
      Patchy coronavirus effects hit global car sales in November
      November continues fall in Western Europe's car sales
  • Data
  • Information
    • Country Overview
    • Market Sector overviews
    • Technical articles
    • Company profiles and strategies
    • China’s PU industry on the path to recovery; plans for technology upgrades
      Chinese cold chains grow bigger
      Flexible foam rises to challenges in the Middle East and Africa
      Life at the cross-roads: what does the GCC offer PU?
    • Europe's flexible foam makers face rising prices as outages hit markets
      Western European car registrations rebound slowed in September
      Western European car registrations regained some ground in August
      Western European Car registrations rebound continued in July
    • Take out the VOC with hybrid release agents
      Batteries give pultrusions power
      Seeing a way through VOC and FOG
      Aromatic polyols for simpler rigid PU formulations
    • Hennecke and Frimo: an automotive partnership
      Pushing ahead: AutoRIM drives KM’s UK growth
      BASF opens it first ‘Creation Center’ in Mumbai with a PU twist
      Persistence pays off for CTM
  • Events
    • Exhibitions
    • Conferences
    • Webinars / Livestreams
    • Become a Speaker
  • Advertise
  • Contact Us
  • Issues
  • Subscribe
MENU
Breadcrumb
  1. Home
  2. Information
December 07, 2010 11:00 PM

New aliphatic curative from Albemarle solves a lot of issues in coatings

Simon Robinson
  • Tweet
  • Share
  • Share
  • Email
  • More
    Print

    Report by Liz White, editor

    Albemarle developed its new aliphatic curing agent Ethacure 90 in response to requests from users for UV-stable one-coat materials, said Dr Sam Lane, business marketing manager.

    Over three or four years, "we had a lot of customers asking for aliphatic cures," Lane said. Albemarle is the biggest supplier of aromatic curatives, with Ethacure 100, 200 etc - well­ known curatives that work well and are used globally, Lane said, giving polyurea coatings for China's high speed rail network as an example.

    Although they work well, they are aromatics, and so not very stable to UV light. In time the colour changes, Lane explained.

    "What some people will do is, they put the normal polyurea/polyurethane layer on and then come back and put an aliphatic coat on to give the required UV resistance," the Albemarle expert said, speaking 11 Oct, in an interview during the 2010 conference of the Center for the Polyurethanes Industry, held in conjunction with the UTECH North America 2010 exhibition in Houston, Texas.

    "That's the get-around to give a colour-stable layer," Lane continued.

    This top layer is often a thin - 3-5 mil (0.09 mm) - layer on top of the base coat which can be perhaps 80 mil thick, he added. "If you get any kind of abrasion or wear the aliphatic layer can be scraped away and then the colour stability problem arises again," Lane said, noting that "this is a long-standing problem with any kind of spray polyurea." ·

    In addition, some of the existing aliphatic technologies have low elongation, which can be problematic when trying to coat surfaces with sharp contours where "bendability" is crucial.

    But, if the cure was aliphatic, UV stability would be good and no top layer would be needed, the Albemarle manager commented.

    The fast reactivity of aliphatics can be an issue. "When they get too fast they won't spray very well, this can cause spray guns to clog quickly," he said, noting that viscosity builds up very rapidly.

    "There has never been a slow enough aliphatic to use in formulating to allow for good spraying and processing," he said.

    Albemarle used "a big screening programme to look at aliphatics: Ethacure 90 came out of this," Lane said.

    He stressed that it is now, "quite rare for a new curative to come on the market - because of the costs involved in screening, testing, evaluation." The time and costs involved for extensive testing are some reasons "Why you don't see many new curatives," Lane said.

    Albemarle's new curative has cleared US regulatory hurdles, Lane said. Commercial sales started in December. Meanwhile, toxicity/ environmental testing is under way for the rest of the global registrations, and that will be finished in late 2011/early 2012, Lane said.

    Colour-stable  polyurea coatings

    Users now have the ability to have a one-coat polyurea coating, in any colour, Lane said. "White will stay white, blue, blue," he said. As an example, Lane said, "Pretty much all truck beds are black in North America," since "a lot of pigment is added, to hide the fact that the coating is actually changing colour," he said.

    With Ethacure 90, however, OEMs can now have a dark-blue lining on a light- blue truck, or match the liner to the body coat colour, the marketing potential is large, Lane added.

    Coatings for concrete/steel in potable water systems are another prospective use, since aliphatic amines have a good HSE (health, safety, environmental) profile versus aromatic types, he added.

    Aliphatic systems are also being used in retrofitting old water systems, as is done in the UK, where a considerable amount of remedial

    work on the water systems is being carried out.

     

    Slow curing

    Ethacure 90 was designed to be slow curing - "slower than you actually need, because that gives you some flexibility in the formulating," Lane said. Users can add faster -curing IPDA (isophorone diamine) and other primary amines, to lower cost and adjust speed, he said.

    Albemarle opted for one of the slowest curing aliphatic amines from the screening. That gives users "the ultimate flexibility," Lane added. They can always adjust the formulation to speed the process up, he said.

    Lane noted that polyurea use in Europe is at a lower level than in the US, but said that European use is growing, and Asian use has "really picked up," with big projects in spraying steel and concrete in major building projects such as the Beijing Olympics. Potential users are where visual impact is important, he said.

    Aliphatic materials currently form about 5 percent of the polyurea market, "but we feel that may change with these new materials" Lane said.

    Lane feels this new material will reach a larger proportion of the polyurea business.

    Users need a reason to change, because aliphatics are more expensive, Lane said. But he thinks with time the cost of the aliphatic amine curatives will come down. And, he added, "you get what you pay for - in this case formulation flexibility and cure rate control."

    Albemarle has "really started to want to be a solution provider in curatives, driven largely by customer wishes, for a wider range from Albemarle," Lane concluded.

    Recommended for You
    EU production growth heads eastwards
    EU production growth heads eastwards
    Making the case for TPUs
    Making the case for TPUs
    From cell to slope
    From cell to slope
    Latest Issue
    Click HERE for Free Download
    View All Archives
    Get our newsletters

    Breaking news and in-depth coverage of essential topics delivered straight to your inbox.

    Subscribe today

    Register to access our archive of leading information on the polyurethanes industry.

    Subscribe now
    Connect with Us
    • Twitter
    • LinkedIn
    • Facebook
    • Youtube

    Follow us on social media for the latest polyurethanes industry news and event updates.

    Logo
    Contact Us

    Office 127,
    61, Willow Walk,
    London
    SE1 5SF
    E-mail us
    +44 (0) 203 287 5979

    Customer Service:
    +1 313 446 0450

    Resources
    • Advertise with Us
    • Media Kit
    • Staff
    • Careers
    • Ad Choices Ad Choices
    • Sitemap
    Legal
    • Terms and Conditions
    • Privacy Policy
    • Privacy Request
    Copyright © 1996-2021. Crain Communications, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
    • Coronavirus
    • News
      • Asia
      • Americas
      • Europe
      • M & A
      • Financial results
      • Automotive
    • Data
    • Information
      • Country Overview
      • Market Sector overviews
      • Technical articles
      • Company profiles and strategies
    • Events
      • Exhibitions
      • Conferences
      • Webinars / Livestreams
      • Become a Speaker
    • Advertise
    • Contact Us
    • Issues
    • Subscribe