Minneapolis, Minnesota - Spray polyurethane equipment supplier Graco Inc. says the latesthigh-speed rail project in China, the Beijing-Shanghai High-SpeedRailway, is using massive amounts of polyurea coatings, applied with the US group's spray equipment.
All of the 1320-km length of the railway track bed will be coated with polyurea, said Graco, adding that some 20 kilotonnes of polyurea will be applied to the concrete deck during the total project. This makes the Beijing-Shanghai railway one of the world's largest current polyurea waterproofing projects, Minneapolis-headquartered Graco said.
Construction crews on the rail line are using Graco Xtreme Airless Sprayers to apply a basecoat underneath the polyurea, and Graco Reactor Plural-Component Proportioners to apply the polyurea, said Graco, in its current newsletter.
Graco said the Beijing-Shanghai High-Speed Railway project is expected to be finished by 2011 and an estimated 220 000 passengers will use the expressway each day.
Polyurea materials from Chinese polyurethane supplier Yantai Wanhua Polyurethane Co. Ltd are being used on the project, according to an earlier statement from the company. Materials based on Yantai Wanhua's MDI (methylene diphenyl diisocyanate) are being exploited for their good tear strength and elongation, and resistance to environmental factors and the effect of high-speed trains (see Urethanes Technology International Vol 26 no 6, page 16).
The first part of this high-speed rail project, between Beijing and the coastal city of Taijin, was also polyurea-coated, with the help of Spokane, Washington-based United Coatings. The project was scheduled to be completed in time for the 2008 Beijing Olympics (see Urethanes Technology International Vol 24 no 1, page 20).
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