Materials News

New acrylate monomer for clear coats

G

Compared with currently existing processes, HPCA enables crosslinkable carbamate units to be incorporated into the polymer in one step, doing away with the usual two-step procedure.

The company sats HPCA has already proven itself in clear coat systems for the automotive industry. One-component coatings with HPCA achieve a comparable performance level to two-component coatings, for example with regard to weather and scratch resistance. In contrast to two-component coatings, one-component coatings are easier to use in applications and are more cost efficient.

HPCA also offers additional potential for a broad range of applications in the future with the company offering to work in partnership with customers to develop new areas of application like adhesives. These can be hardened either thermally or using UV light. Here, the free carbamate group can have a positive impact on both adhesion and cohesion, in this way making it possible to improve adhesive properties.

BASF says its researchers have successfully manufactured the specific chemical structure of HPCA on a commercial scale with the help of white biotechnology. In the biocatalytic procedure, the speciality monomer is synthesised by applying an enzyme. From HPCA the carbamate-based polyacrylate can be produced then in one step. BASF has used this procedure in industrial production for the first time.