Isocyanate-Free Urethane Coating for Industrial Metal Applications

By Paul Popa, John Argyropoulos, Yanxiang Li, Nahrain Kamber, Jeff Anderson

Two-component polyurethane coatings are used in a wide variety of applications, including maintenance and protection of industrial infrastructure; agriculture, construction, and earthmoving equipment; automotive refinishing; and wood furniture, cabinetry, and joinery. These coating systems offer excellent weather-ability, toughness, chemical resistance, and stain resistance.

When formulated for ambient curing, however, traditional 2K polyurethane coating systems sacrifice cure time for pot life unless plural component application equipment is employed. This article describes a novel urethane technology that is isocyanate-free, cures at ambient temperature, and decouples pot life from cure speed. In addition to an improved environmental, health, and safety profile, this novel technology offers multiple end-user benefits such as higher throughput in original manufacturing applications and faster return-to-service in field applications.

Performance attributes such as good weatherability and chemical resistance in various industrial metal applications are also highlighted.