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Higher sustainability and improved processing in polyurethane and polyurea coatings with VERSALINK® Series

In recent years, sustainability plays an increasingly important role in the coating industry. One major trends is the shift away from toxic materials in coating formulations such as dibutyltin dilaurate (DBTL) or dioctyltin dilaurate (DOTL). While these materials may offer excellent processing properties, they also have significant drawbacks, including their mutagenic potential, which renders their use in many applications impossible.

Benefits at a Glance

  • High stress at break
  • High elongation at break
  • High split tear strength
  • High abrasion resistance
  • High chemical resistance

So, how can coating formulators meet high sustainability targets while maintaining high processability, good liquid flow properties, fast curing rates, and high performance? The VERSALINK® Series can help fulfill these requirements.

Due to its primary amine groups, VERSALINK® can react with MDI-type isocyanates without the use of a catalyst, even at room temperature. In contrast to typical polyurea systems, VERSALINK® provides long pot life, making even hand application possible. Aditionally, VERSALINK® products are not classified as CMR (carcinogenic, mutagenic, or toxic to reproduction) products and completely non-hazardous for users.

Evonik offers VERSALINK® in various molecular weights. The physical properties and reactivities will vary depending on the chosen grade (see Table 1). To tailor the end properties, formulators can combine multiple grades. If the reactivity is too low, the rate of reaction can be improved by adding 0.2-1.0 wt% of DABCO® BA 100, a nontoxic and low-emission acidic compound that can react within the polymer matrix.

To provide a low-temperature liquid grade with similar flexibility to VERSALINK® P 2000, we have introduced VERSALINK® P 1050 LCF. This low-reactivity grade can be utilized to produce highly flexible coatings without pre-melting.   

Furthermore, Evonik has developed a new bio-based VERSALINK® grade that meets the demand for components with low CO2 footprint and is made from renewable raw materials. This special grade offers similar material properties as VERSALINK® P 1000 while providing more than 80 wt% renewable carbon. 

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Table 1: Overview and physical properties of Versalink® P Series

Long pot lifetimes – Hand-mix formulations are possible

No toxic catalyst necessary for curing

Low toxicity materials

Improved material properties with VERSALINK® P Series

VERSALINK® enhances the chemical and mechanical resistance of coatings. Due to its ester-ether co-structure the produts combine the advantages of both materials. This leads to elastomers with high hydrolytic stability resulting from PTMEG moieties and a high tear resistance from the ester units.

Table 2 depicts the outstanding chemical resistance against water, basic aqueous solutions and chemical solvents like hexane and propylene carbonate. The VERSALINK® Series is ideal to formulate coatings for chemical and wastewater tanks. Remarkably, the material recovers its initial mechanical properties when solvents like hexane evaporate from the films. 

In combination with aliphatic isocyanates, VERSALINK® leads to transparent films. The tendency to yellow depends on the chosen types. While VERSALINK® P 2000 has only a low yellowing tendency, this  increases slightly with lower molecular weight types, such as VERSALINK® P 220.

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A – no discernable visual impact; B – no visible impact, but some weight; gain & swelling; C – considerable swelling; F – cracked and degraded

Table 2: Chemical Resistance of casted films with VERSALINK® P 1000

 

The excellent abrasion resistance is illustrated in Figure 1. The VERSALINK® P 1000 sample loses less than half of its mass compared to samples created with polypropyleneglycols (PPG) or polyesters. 

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Figure 1: Taber abrasion after 5000 cycles with stone wheel.