A Cost-Effective, Water-Reducible Polyester Polyol for Two-Component Waterborne Urethane Coatings
The polyol and isocyanate pre-polymer manufacturers recognize the potential of this technology and have been persistent in their efforts to provide meaningful information that confirms the viability of 2K waterborne polyurethanes.
Nonetheless, the polyol and isocyanate pre-polymer manufacturers recognized the potential of this technology and have been persistent in their efforts to provide meaningful information that confirms the viability of 2K waterborne polyurethanes. To date, their efforts have been successful in generating a high level of interest due to well-planned studies exhibiting 2K waterborne polyurethanes with performance comparable to conventional 2K solventborne urethanes. In addition, there have been some significant commercial successes. According to Melchoirs et.al., two-component waterborne urethane coatings developed by Bayer have demonstrated comparable performance to their solvent-based counterparts in IM applications, auto refinishing and in special-effects systems, such as "soft-feel" coatings.1 Other suppliers have also developed very viable technologies utilizing various types of polyols, which have proven to rival their solventborne counterparts in virtually all aspects of performance in IM, wood, automotive and aerospace applications.2 However, the growth of this technology remains slower than expected, despite the excellent performance and extremely low-VOC and HAPs-free formulations offered by many of the existing technologies.