Polyurea has been an important part of industrial coating materials since the 1980s when it was discovered. This technology developed in America has spread rapidly in Asia and this trend was followed by Europe.
Polyurea materials are defined as elastomeric structures obtained by the reaction of polyamines and amine-based chain extenders with aromatic or aliphatic isocyanate prepolymers. Polyurea materials are formed in seconds due to high reactivity between amine and isocyanate components and can be cured rapidly even at low temperatures. Thanks to its fast curing profile, polyurea can be applied on vertical surfaces and recoated multiple times to obtain required coating thickness. It forms monolithic, waterproof surfaces. Polyurea materials are highly preferred coating products since they exhibit high hardness and flexibility, superior resistance to chemicals, water, weather and abrasion resistance. Additionally, they do not contain any volatile organic compounds (VOC) which makes them environmentally friendly coating materials. 1
Polyurea coatings are generally used on surfaces such as concrete and steel to increase corrosion and wear resistance. Their application areas range from roads, bridges, parking lots, various industrial surfaces, pipes, roofs, commercial vehicle coatings to pools and drinking water tanks.
Owing to their fast curing profile, polyurea materials necessitates the use of special spray equipment which can be operated at high pressure (160-170 bar) and temperature (70°C-80°C). Although the use of a special spray machine for polyurea seems to be a disadvantage at first, it is advantageous to cover very large areas in a short time.2
Moreover, polyurea materials properties such as their high reactivity, moisture tolerance, low temperature curing ability, excellent physical and chemical properties make them also superior compared to other polyurethane-based coating materials.3 Besides, polyurea has the longest service life among other coating materials. It is the most preferred coating material due to its wide range of application temperature, excellent adhesion to different surfaces, high resistance to heat and impacts, resistance to different weather conditions.
Polyurea products are 2-component systems and they are referred as pure polyurea if the chain structure contains only urea groups whereas if the chain contains both urea and urethane groups they are classified as hybrid polyurea.4 Figure 1 shows the reaction of polyurethane and polyurea.5
Figure 1: Chemical reaction of polyurethane and polyurea.5
Nowadays, the researches regarding spray polyurea materials have become more diverse. 6,7 As it was aforementioned, polyurea has found many application in different industries. More recently, it was proved that the polyurea also exhibits superior resistance to hard chemical environment and mechanical stresses encountered in seawater. Therefore, polyurea is often employed as a coating material for ships and buildings which are largely exposed to seawater.8
Thanks to its diverse mechanical and chemical properties, polyurea can be easily adapted to different technologies. As well as, the studies regarding polyurea applications in different fields are drawing more attention both from industry and academia.
Pure polyurea – Creacase C-221- Creanate CI-05
Pure polyurea is a flexible spray coating material which is formed by the reaction of the isocyanate-based prepolymer and multifunctional amine mixture. This product does not contain volatile organic compounds, therefore, offers environmentally friendly coating. Pure polyureas show excellent performance in terms of mechanical and chemical properties. With its fast curing feature, it provides a monolithic waterproof coating for areas that require a thick application and also on vertical surfaces.
Hybrid polyurea – Creacase C-123- Creanate CI-05
Eco-friendly (VOC free) flexible spray coating materials designed with the perfect combination of polyurethane and polyurea structures. This product, which can be used safely in waterproofing applications, shows high mechanical and chemical performance.
The above-mentioned products have CE certificate and are suitable for contact with drinking water.
References
- Dudley J. Primeaux II, Primeaux Associates LLC, 2004
- PDA Europe, Code of Good Practice,2014
- M. Broekaert, Huntsman International LLC, 2002
- A. Szafran, J., Matusiak, J. Int. Assoc. Shell Spat. Struct., 2016, 43, 67–68.
- Whelton, A., Salehi,M.,Tabor, M., Donaldson, B.,Estaba, J., J. Environ. Eng. 2013.139:746-756
- N. Iqbal, M. Tripathi, S. Parthasarathy, D. Kumar and P. K. Roy, RSC Adv., 2016, 6, 109706–109717.
- N. Iqbal, D. Kumar and P. K. Roy, J. Appl. Polym. Sci., 2018, 135, 1–8.
- K. Che, P. Lyu, F. Wan and M. Ma, Materials, 2019, 12(21), 3636