LEVERKUSEN, Germany/AMSTERDAM, the Netherlands - Bayer MaterialScience has been honored by AkzoNobel’s Automotive & Aerospace Coatings business (A&AC) with The Alliance Award for Superior Partnership. Bayer MaterialScience has long supplied the Amsterdam-based company and world’s largest coatings manufacturer with raw materials, primarily aliphatic and aromatic isocyanates as well as polyurethane dispersions. The award is given each year in recognition of particularly high and consistent product quality, supply reliability, product availability, and good partnership.

AkzoNobel uses Desmodur^® N isocyanates primarily in the formulation of automotive refinishing and industrial coatings. Aromatic isocyanates from the Desmodur^® L product line have proven effective in wood and furniture coatings, for example. Coatings formulated with Bayer raw materials are also used in a great many other applications and on a wide variety of substrates. The spectrum ranges from anticorrosion and marine coatings to can, coil and specialty coatings.

Sustainability is a top priority for both companies. "We are working in close collaboration with the sustainability team at AkzoNobel A&AC to develop raw materials for low-solvent coatings," said Knut-Richard Hausmann, Key Account Manager for AkzoNobel A&AC. As part of this collaboration, Bayer MaterialScience has also conducted cradle-to-grave analyses to support its customers with the switch to low-solvent coating systems.

The two companies are also collaborating closely on projects targeting innovation focused on application-specific properties like self-healing surfaces (reflow), an improved scratch resistance and an efficient application.