Twenty-five people from all over the United States recently attended a “polyurea/polyuspartic” coating seminar in Springfield, MA. Core Construction Products of Wilbraham, MA, along with Advanced Resin Coatings of Palmer, MA, held a full-day event and educated many about the advantages of the revolutionary coatings.

Throughout the morning session, Dave Preston, technical director for Advanced Resin Coating, gave a PowerPoint presentation outlining the benefits of using the product. In the afternoon, the group went to the nearby Advanced Resin Coating plant to see hands-on applications and demonstrations of the polyurea.

• abrasion resistance
• corrosion protection
• waterproofing
• chemical, environmental or atmospheric Resistance
• decoration
• structural enhancement

According to Marty Baron of Core Construction Products, for decades traditional materials such as paint, epoxy, fiberglass and vinyl esters have been used to perform various types of protective coating applications. Polyurea coating has been in use for almost three decades and is believed to be more advanced than traditional coating systems, which can offer many advantages to the owner, specifier and contractor.

Polyurea can be applied over a variety of different substrates (concrete, metals, wood, and more) in a wide range of temperature and humidity environments. However, Baron pointed out, like all protective coatings, applying polyurea is no excuse to not perform proper surface preparation and quality control testing during application.

Polyurea's major benefit is the product's fast-set nature. The substance can typically return an area to service much faster than traditional coatings – allowing the owner to put the facility back in use without downtime and lost revenue. Downtime for maintenance and coatings on water tanks, waste-water clarifiers, parking garages, and chemical storage tanks can cost a facility owner extra money when taken out of service while other coatings are applied and drying.

Because most industrial-use polyureas are spray applied, the substance is fast to apply and is accurately proportioned and mixed. This application style allows for virtually any millimeter thickness to be applied in one or multiple passes.

Additional characteristics, such as slip-resistant additives and surface textures, can also be incorporated, UV stable colors can be achieved, and even NSF potable water approved systems are also possible.

Baron said that very few coatings can compare to polyurea when it comes to attainable physical properties. Polyureas can be formulated to achieve a tremendous range of properties from high elongation to superior tensile strength to hard or soft – all based on how the materials are formulated and correctly applied.