You’ll never be short of options when it comes to protective coatings. But, if you are looking to invest in the most superior choice that provides unparalleled qualities and exceptional performance, then do not look beyond polyurea coatings.
Polyurea coatings have been around and used by many industries for decades now. However, with continuous innovation in its formulation plus the discovery of more of its potential, it has evolved to become the most advanced and dependable among the different types of protective coatings.
What is Polyurea?
Polyurea protective coatings contain polyurea, the material that results from the step-growth polymerization process wherein synthetic resin and reactive isocyanate materials were combined.
Through the years, many combinations of resins and isocyanate materials were explored and formulated to cater to the needs of various industries. More so, to suit more types of materials and the environment they are in. This birthed to an advanced technology that enabled polyurea coatings to stay on top of their league.
Often, polyurea is being compared to epoxy since the latter is also another popular option, with low cost as the number one reason. Both materials share similar characteristics, only that epoxy is good while polyurea is excellent.
Polyurea wins in many areas like durability, flexibility, versatility, resilience, strength, and maintenance. Thus, if you are looking for a lasting investment, you will never go wrong with polyurea concrete coatings.
Perhaps the only downsides of polyurea are cost and installation. They are not cheap and you need professionals to install them for you. Yet, these pale in comparison to the vast benefits of your investment.
Applications of Polyurea Coatings
- Oil and gas: In general, a polyurea coating allows equipment and materials to withstand constant exposure to weathering, chemicals and corrosion.
- Automotive: In factories, these coatings protect the floor from damage through heavy vibrations from equipment and machinery. Meanwhile, they can also be applied to the components of sophisticated machinery like robotic systems for protection against various factors in its environment.
- Containment (Primary and Secondary): Containment tanks are sprayed on with polyurea coatings to help them resist constant exposure to the outdoors, the chemicals they carry, and other degrading elements that cause wear, tear, and corrosion.
- Tanks and Trailers: The right type of coating can help absorb the impact of heavyweights and the corrosive effects of the elements in the environment.
- Marine: The marine industry benefits from polyurea’s outstanding waterproofing and moisture resistance properties. It is also resilient against degradation and corrosion due to water submersion. It is flexible to be applied not just on marine vehicles but also in buoys, docks, and even equipment.
- Military: Polyurea coatings are highly-dependable when it comes to protecting military equipment and vehicles against the harshest elements in the war zone. It absorbs impact, prevents abrasion, and battles corrosive elements.
- Infrastructure: Buildings, roads, bridges, facilities, and other types of infrastructure can also be at the receiving end of polyurea coatings’ vast benefits. These coatings add a layer of protection against corrosion and damage, prolong their lifetime, maintain their stability, and also reduce maintenance requirements and costs.
- Emergency Response: The protection that polyurea coatings add to emergency response vehicles and equipment help increase their dependability and lifetime.
- Defense and Security: A polyurea bed liner can lessen the damaging effects of constant vibrations in truck carriers and responders. The same material can also be applied to help preserve battle equipment by resisting temperature variations.
Advantages of Polyurea Coatings
- Adheres to a wide variety of substrates: They are suitable for a variety of materials or substrates like wood, metal, concrete, etc. Versatile when it comes to formulations to achieve a specific function or property. Polyurea can be easily formulated and combined with other elements to achieve a certain property, either protective or for aesthetic purposes.
- Cures and sets fast: In as short as a few minutes, you can already use materials coated with polyurethane. In industries, this property allows for shorter downtimes that cost to lose profit potential.
- Host of applications: Consumer and industrial-level applications are achievable with polyurea coatings because of their versatility.
- Weathering resistance: Polyurea exhibits weathering resistance to provide high-level protection to substrates by combatting damage and corrosive exposures to chemicals.
- High resistance to abrasion and impact: Polyurea coatings are popular with industries dealing with extensive activities, harshest environmental exposure, chemicals, high foot traffic, etc.
- Thermal stability: Polyurea displays high tolerance to erratic temperature variations and extreme temperature exposures.
- Customizable to any thickness with one pass: There is a wide range of thickness for each polyurea spray coating from 20 mils to 500 mils in one pass. This allows for faster output and decreased downtime for industries.
- Free from solvents: In general, polyurea coatings are friendlier to the environment because of the absence of solvents in their composition.
- Not affected by humidity: Polyurea waterproofing solutions are highly dependable and are considered the most superior in their league.
Cost and Application
On the upfront, the cost of polyurea coatings is around twice of epoxies. You can easily get daunted by it and could have had an easy choice. But we advise that you take time to understand the cost factors that affect such investment.
As mentioned, polyurea is versatile when it comes to designating its thickness in one pass. With that, you can already finish the whole area faster compared with epoxies, which usually take about two passes for a smoother finish. To mention, it takes about 12 to 24 hours setting or curing time for the first pass before you can proceed on the next.
For industries, using polyurea coatings can significantly cut the prep work and the installation process, resulting in decreased downtime that may affect their businesses.
Another major advantage of polyurea coatings is lifespan. Epoxies are considered short-term solutions because of their typical lifetime of about 12 to 36 months. Whereas a properly applied polyurea coating can last up to 7 years.
And of course, remember that maintenance is also a cost factor. Polyurea coatings are more resistant to abrasion, corrosion, impact, vibration, and chemical spills than epoxies. They also do not require sophisticated cleaning equipment.
