The coating industry has come a long way from buckets and brushes. Today’s advanced coatings, including polyurea and polyurethane, are among the most advanced resins ever developed. Over the past thirty years, chemical engineers have formulated innovative polymer resins with various modulus, faster reaction times, better fire retardancy, and lower VOCs. More than any other polymer coating, these polyureas stand out in their versatility, strength, and longevity. Polyurea protective coatings are the next step in the evolution of the sprayed coating industry.
Simultaneously, advancements in coatings technology have also led to spray, injection, and roto-cast application equipment that also improves polyureas’ performance. In particular, plural component equipment technology has been advanced to make spray applications more straightforward, more uniform in coverage, applicable at more moderate pressures, and allowing less overspray or fogging.
Polyurea materials have two components: the isocyanates and resins. The resin blend is a combination of amine-terminated chain extenders. Unlike polyurethanes, no polyols are used in the production of polyurea resins. When the materials are blended in the application machinery, the isocyanates and the amine resins react to a urea linkage.
Introduced in 1989 by the Texaco Chemical Company, polyurea was regarded by many in the coatings industry as an “over-hyped” commodity with exaggerated features and benefits. True, polyurea systems and technology have many exceptional properties. However, many manufacturers of traditional coating material discounted polyurea claim the “wonder” product; thus, many manufacturers and end-users lost sight of its true advantages.
Many old-guard coating manufacturers did not distinguish between polyurethane and polyurea. All coatings, whether polyether amines (polyurea component) or polyester/polyether hydroxyl (polyurethane urethane component) resins, were identified as polyurethanes. Only in the past ten to fifteen years have many companies differentiated these coatings.
OEM manufacturers, contractors, engineers, and fabricators needed a fast-cure, moisture-insensitive coating system. They required various physical properties, excellent adhesion, smooth surface flow out, superior tensile strength, and high abrasion resistance. A polyurea system fits that exact description. The main physical properties of polyurea explain their success.
