2019
UK

The Company

A manufacturer of high-performance industrial floor coatings.

Due to restrictions on APEO surfactants, the company were looking to move away from using an APEO-containing waterborne epoxy hardener in one of their flooring products. Ideally, they were looking for an APEO-free hardener that they could use as a ‘drop- in’ but would achieve the same performance as their existing hardener without reformulation. More specifically, they needed a high-gloss hardener that would be compatible with Bisphenol A/F epoxy resins.

The company screened a wide range of commercially available hardeners, but none were suitable for their flooring system.

The Solution

Initially, Incorez supplied the company with an existing waterborne epoxy hardener from the standard range, but an exact fit couldn’t be achieved without some reformulation. As a result, the company shared formulation data with the R&D Chemists at Incorez and by working as a partnership, a customised resin was developed that enabled a seamless transition into their flooring system.

The company also required a specific viscosity level without the use of rheological additives and Incorez were able to develop a resin that fitted this specification.

Consequently, the company has now completely replaced their existing APEO containing hardener with the APEO-free version from Incorez.

Hardener development for water-based epoxy floor coatings

The Benefits

In addition to developing a tailored waterborne epoxy hardener for the company, Incorez were able to call upon their in-house expertise and provide added technical assistance.

Additional benefits provided by the APEO-free drop-in hardener include:

  • Additional benefits include:
  • Extended pot life
  • Fast cure
  • Good low temperature cure
  • High gloss
  • Faster hardness development · Suitable viscosity