Less Energy, But the Same Results

Reduced costs at a sustained level of quality. That’s what the market exacts from product developers right now, especially in light of the global economic crisis. Meeting that expectation to a tee are two new products brought forth by Evonik’s Crosslinkers Business Line in the market segment Coatings, Adhesives & Printing Inks: VESTAGON^® EP-HA 376 and VESTAGON^® EP-SC 5050. These products will be officially presented at the European Coatings Show (ECS) slated in Nuremberg from March 31 to April 2, 2009. Designed to help users reduce their costs without having to accept any losses in quality, these products are in keeping with Evonik’s “Smart Formulating” concept, the idea of which is to make the most of the Group’s expertise and work with customers in the paints and coatings market to develop solutions jointly. ”We actively incorporate our customers into the development process so that we’ll be able to offer them tailor-made products,” said Michael Koller, marketing manager in the Crosslinkers Business Line.

With the introduction of VESTAGON^® EP-HA 376, Crosslinkers is expanding its product range of hydroxyalkylamide chemicals. This cross-linking agent is used predominantly in powder coatings that are applied by stoving in directly fired gas furnaces. Its advantage over previous products is that, when it hardens in the furnace, it substantially reduces yellowing in white or light colors and thus strongly enhances color stability. Like the VESTAGON^® HA 320 standard product, there is no labeling requirement for this new crosslinker for hydroxyalkylamides, and it’s already available in industrial quantities. Another of its convincing qualities is that the mechanical values of the coatings equal those of the standard product.

VESTAGON^® EP-SC 5050 is a second-generation catalyst for hardening polyurethane powder coatings at low temperatures. But we’ve also decisively improved the way this family of catalysts is used in matt epoxy-polyester powder-coating systems and have patented those improvements. If state-of-the-art matt hardeners based on poly-carboxylic acid salts are used, the hardening temperature of hybrid powder coatings will be limited to between 180 and 210°C, with lower stoving temperatures resulting, for example, in defective matting due to incomplete hardening. This new catalyst can now accelerate matted hybrid powder coatings to achieve the same matting effect at far lower temperatures of around 150 to 200°C as was previously achieved at higher temperatures. While the formulators possess more scope to produce surfaces of the customary quality, they simultaneously enable the level of energy consumption to be substantially reduced because furnaces can run at lower temperatures. In addition to its application at much lower temperatures, this product expands the bandwidth of simultaneous hardening of thin and thick substrates while preventing the so-called patchwork phenomenon on the end product, which is caused by variations in object temperature and component density. VESTAGON^® EP-SC 5050 is offered with 50-percent adsorption on silicic acid, the advantage of which is that, because it is a solid, it can be optimally worked into powder coatings. This catalyst also needs only to be sparingly dosed into such systems. Its positive product properties take effect when even the smallest quantities of around 0.4 percent of overall formulation are used. VESTAGON^® EP-SC 5050 replaces product type EP-RC 8020 used to date.

Evonik offers a wide range of raw materials for the coatings and adhesives industry. More information is available at www.evonik.com/smart-formulating

Crosslinkers

Evonik Industries is one of the leading suppliers of high-performance crosslinkers for all major cutting-edge coating technologies.

Aliphatic PUR crosslinkers from Evonik for exterior applications exhibit an excellent durability profile in various systems like liquid 2-pack or 1-pack systems and in powder coatings technology. Recent developments with uretdione-based VESTAGON^® BF crosslinkers resulted in low-temperature-cure powder coatings for temperature-sensitive substrates.

Evonik´s aliphatic diamines are the basis for industry-standard epoxy hardeners for industrial floorings, to name one example.

Functional silanes from the Dynasylan^® range are used as curing agents in specific applications, promoting excellent adhesion to mineral substrates.

Evonik offers a range of bi-, tri- and tetrafunctional chemicals called TAICROS^® aqua and phenylbisoxazolines as specialized crosslinking agents.