Biobased Waterborne Floor Coatings with Enhanced Flow and Appearance

By Stephen Hellems, John Willhite, Ramesh Subramanian

The use of sustainable materials in the flooring market has gained widespread interest in recent years. Biobased raw materials contribute significantly to these efforts and are used to prepare environmentally friendly coatings. Castor oil-based emulsions are used as polyols in waterborne polyurethane coatings. These systems have outstanding chemical resistance and good durability.

However, they have inherent issues like very short pot life and poor appearance and flow properties. In this article, the development of a new cas-tor oil-based polyol emulsion that can be used effectively in waterborne polyurethane applications is discussed. The modified polyol emulsion was formulated with polymeric MDI-based crosslinker, pigments, and additives to prepare thick concrete coatings.

The appearance of the system, flow behavior, adhesion characteristics, surface roughness, and working life of the formulations were compared with the control.