subject: All One Needs To Know About Moisture Scavengers [print this page] There is no denying the fact that moisture is generally considered a nuisance with low-solids urethane coatings, but when it comes to their high-solids counterparts, it becomes a serious problem. The moisture in these coatings leads to performance problems including pinholing and downglossing. Besides this, it can also result in shortening the product shelf life.
However, it is the moisture scavengers that come as the perfect solution to the issue and are manufactured to either control or entirely eliminate the water in the coating formulation. No-doubts, moisture contamination is generally linked with outdoor industrial coatings. And it is often seen as a top-of-mind concern in marine coatings, which are exposed to moisture. Again, most of the high performance urethane coatings can be affected by the element, known as moisture.
Now, when it comes to the introduction of moisture to these urethane coatings, it happens in the form of dissolved water in solvents and polyols, adsorbed water in fillers and pigments, and also humidity from the atmosphere. And the fact that a higher concentration of pigment is included in these high-solids coatings; here one can easily see a higher degree of moisture contamination as compared to low-solids products. Moisture scavengers, thus come as a great help.
What happens if water is not removed from these coatings? In case, the water is not removed from a urethane coating, it has the potential to react with the formulation's isocyanates and thus, can form carbon dioxide and amines. These Amines can further react with isocyanates and can go on to form urea. Now, these by-products are not at all good for these coatings and adversely affect them in different ways. This further adds to the value of moisture scavenger.
Incorez is one of the leading manufacturers of oxazolidines, waterborne epoxy cutting agents and waterborne polyurethane dispersions. It is also in the production of moisture scavengers, latest cutting and reactive diluents. For more information about moisture scavenger and other products, visit http://www.incorez.com/.
