H.M. Royal Webinar Recap: Rutgers Novares on Performance Resins for Long Lasting Coatings
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In March, H.M. Royal had the honor of hosting a webinar with Rutgers Novares, the leading raw materials manufacturers in Europe. Rutgers is a German company with 150 years of experience in the materials industry, specializing in the production of raw materials for the aluminum and steel industries. The company works with a variety of other industries, including aluminum, tire, automotive delivery, chemical, construction, and coating. The webinar presenters were Dr. Jun Liu and Benjamin Boenigk of the Application Technology team. Rutgers Novares offers a variety of liquid modifiers, so they presented on a selection of these products.
Manufacturers are under a lot of pressure to create products that not only perform well in the needed applications but also comply with regulations. Dr. Lui and Boenigk focused on finding the delicate balance between regulatory and performance concerns and discussed Rutgers products that succeed in complying with both and can be used as successful alternatives to certain problematic raw materials. The products featured in the webinar were NOVARES® high-performance hydrocarbon resin and RUETASOLV® isopropylated naphthalene and biphenyl.
NOVARES® Resin as an Alternative to Nonylphenols
Dr. Lui started off by presenting on NOVARES® as an alternative to nonylphenols. Nonylphenol happens to be toxic to aquatic organisms and was classified as a Substance of High Concern by the ECHA in 2012. Therefore, its use in various products has become limited, and manufacturers have been forced to use other products instead.
One alternative producers could be using is NOVARES® LS 500 from Rutgers. LS 500 is a harmless and effective alternative that performs similarly to nonylphenol. Additionally, LS 500 has less of a side effect on the hardness of epoxy coatings, and it is more stable when bonded into an epoxy polymer matrix, resulting in a higher resistance against solvent penetration and swelling. Therefore, it is not only an acceptable replacement for nonylphenol but a higher-performing alternative in many cases.
NOVARES® LS 500 and RUETASOLV® DI Combination as an Alternative to Benzyl Alcohol
After Dr. Lui finished speaking about the NOVARES® alternative to nonylphenol, Benjamin Boenigk took over for the remainder of the presentation. He discussed benzyl alcohol (BZA), which is used in coatings but as an offensive smell and is regulated heavily in Europe. As with nonylphenol, many companies are moving away from using benzyl alcohol and searching for alternatives—one of which could be a combination of LS 500 and RUETASOLV® DI. When blended, these substances have a bulky structure, leading to similar application properties without the disadvantages of BZA. The combination also has a stronger acceleration of epoxy curing than BZA and is better in leaching.
Boenigk’s next discussed using the NOVARES® LA Series resins as all-rounders for flexibility and anti-corrosive properties. The LA series is Rutgers’ largest series of resins. These resins are used in paints and have applications for civil engineering and in a variety of other industries. He then moved on to the final item, which was the use of NOVARES® liquid modifiers as chemical resistances boosters for aspartic coating systems. NOVARES® liquid modifiers cure quickly and can influence a variety of properties including anti-corrosiveness and chemical resistance.
Conducting this webinar with Rutgers was a great joy for HM Royal, and we were happy to give Rutgers a platform to share so much useful information. If you missed the webinar and would like to know more detail about these materials, you can watch the recording online.