Polyurea Coatings in the Automotive Industry

polyurea

Polyurea Coatings in the Automotive Industry

Polyurea is a kind of synthetic elastomer which is derived principally from the reaction between a resin-like isocyanic acid component and an aliphatic polymersic resins component during step-growth polymerization. Typically, the polyurea is aromatic or non-aliphatic in nature. However polyureas can have aqueous or polar components attached to it as well. This class of polyurea is also referred to as ‘ceryrous’ polyureas.

Polyurea has found great usage in industries that face numerous challenges like low viscosity, high wear resistance, chemical resistance, and electrical conductivity. Some of the polyurea components that can bear a heavy load include automotive products, coatings, dry powder coatings, fire retardant coating, and many more. One prominent polyurea component that finds extensive usage in the coatings and dry powder coatings is polyurea Teflon. It bears a tremendous load of tensile strength and durability, which makes it highly beneficial. The tensile strength offered by this coating is much superior to most other coating materials.

Another polyurea that bears tremendous properties in the industrial realm is polyurea polystyrene (PPS). It also bears a tremendous load of tensile strength and durability, which makes it highly beneficial. A major advantage of this polyurea is its impact resistance property. This means that it has very low level of impact resistance when compared with other common polyurea formulations.

Most commonly seen polyurea components in the polyurea market are uv -resistant polyureas. These are usually used for automobile body work and vehicle windows. There are numerous polyureas formulations available in the market, which are capable of handling various weather conditions. However, all polyureas have one common physical property – they are usually affected by ultraviolet light or UVA. In fact, polyureas absorb up to 75% of their weight in UV rays. As a result, most of these polyureas are ozone-safe and ozone-obscured.

Polyurea coatings are widely used in the automotive industry. Most popular automotive industry application polyurea coatings are high impact resistance, moisture resistance, and UV stabilization. With these properties, polyurea coatings have made significant contribution to the automobile industry. For example, polyurea coatings can be used for bumpers, wheel coverings, and noses in order to provide maximum safety and reliability to the product. Not only this, but polyurea coatings are also applied on brake calipers to improve brake performance.

Polyurea coatings are generally obtained through two methods – cold forming and hot forming. Polyureas obtainable through the cold method are known as polyurea elastomers. Whereas polyureas obtainable through the hot method are called polyurea polyols. The main difference between these two is that whereas polyols undergo a continuous reaction process during the cold processing, elastomers undergo a chemical reaction during the hot processing.

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