| Résumé : |
Conventional solvent-based oil-modified urethanes (OMU) have been a mainstay in wood flooring and clear varnish applications for many years. Since their introduction into the United States in the early 1950s, their usage has grown steadily. They find application in the toughest environments, like gymnasium and athletic floors, as well as clear varnishes for hardwood floors in homes, offices, and other public buildings. While favored by the professional flooring contractor, they also are used by the do-it-yourself (DIY) homeowner, for everything from floors to cabinet refinishing to wood furniture restoration.
The features that have made this technology so popular over the years include ease of application, fast dry, excellent long-term durability, and reasonable cost. There are very few resin and varnish systems that can provide the ease of use, appearance, dry time, early mar and scuff resistance, abrasion resistance, and household stain and chemical resistance of a solventborne oil-modified urethane varnish.
Currently, conventional solvent-based oil-modified urethanes, with all of their features and benefits, are facing extinction in the marketplace. The cause: implementation of volatile organic compound (VOC) regulations. The top performing solvent-based oil-modified urethanes have a hefty 520–550 gram/liter VOC. Regulations that will take effect in the northeastern United States in 2005 and in the Los Angeles area of California in 2006 call for VOCs of 350 g/L and 275 g/L, respectively.
Questions that are addressed in this article include: (1) What is an oil-modified urethane, and why is it so popular for wood floor coatings? (2) What are the VOC regulations? When do they take effect? (3) What test methods were used to determine alternative technology performance? (4) What are the alternatives to solvent-based OMU technology? (5) How do the alternatives compare to the best of the solvent OMU technologies (550 g/L)? (6) Is oil-modified urethane technology doomed to extinction, or do the VOC-compliant alternatives provide an opportunity for distinction? |
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Ajouter le résultat dans votre panier Affiner la rechercheOil-modified urethanes for clear wood finishes : Distinction or extinction ? / Richard A. Caldwell in COATINGS TECH, Vol. 2, N° 14 (03/2005)
