Chemical Technology - How to Choose Water based Epoxy Floor Curing Agent

Waterborne epoxy floor coatings are becoming increasingly widely used. As the leading product of floor coatings, epoxy resin based floor coatings are an advanced variety, and their performance improvement has always been highly valued. Recently, there have been new achievements in the selection of curing agents that play an important role in film formation.

When using curing agents that react with epoxy groups, epoxy resins with high epoxy values have a higher effective crosslinking density after sufficient curing. Strong resistance to corrosive media through coating; Epoxy resins with low epoxy values are the opposite, but high crosslinking density can easily make the coating brittle, so reactive diluents are added to the epoxy resin components. Reactive diluents can reduce the viscosity of paint, increase the ease of mixing between curing agent components and epoxy resin components during construction, making it easier for the curing agent to emulsify epoxy resin. Moreover, the reactive diluent itself can directly participate in the reaction with the curing agent without producing VOCs.

The selection of curing agent is crucial for the preparation of waterborne epoxy floor coatings. Water based epoxy coatings are multiphase systems, epoxy resins are dispersed phases, and curing agents are continuous phases (for water-soluble curing agents). The curing process is controlled by diffusion, and the curing reaction first occurs at the interface. The viscosity of the surface layer of the epoxy particles gradually increases, while the curing agent gradually diffuses into the epoxy resin, further curing the epoxy resin. The smaller the particle size of epoxy lotion, the closer to complete curing; The better the compatibility between the curing agent and epoxy resin, the easier it is for the curing agent to diffuse into the epoxy resin, which is beneficial for curing.