LANXESS URETHANE SYSTEMS
Specialized polyurethane solutions for elastomers, coatings, adhesives and sealants
Strong and reliable solutions
LF Urethane Prepolymers minimize exposure to free isocyanate, a subject of increasing regulatory focus. LANXESS is the only manufacturer offering LF urethane prepolymers with levels of free isocyanate below 0.1%wt across a wide range of chemistries, including TDI, MDI, pPDI, IPDI, and HDI.
Urethane Prepolymers for conventional TDI and MDI are the choice for general use in cast urethanes, offering good quality across a wide range of applications.
Blocked Isocyanates offer significant benefits over traditional cross-linkers, unblocking at low temperatures and providing a balance of curing and excellent physical properties for 1K formulations.
Water-based Polyurethane Dispersions provide a range of polymer properties in terms of toughness, hardness, flexibility, weatherability and durability, enabling formulators to comply with increasingly demanding regulations on VOC.
TECHNICAL AND ANALYTICAL EXPERTISE
With decades of urethane chemistry and formulation expertise, LANXESS understands the synergy between part design and the physical properties of urethane needed to achieve optimal performance. Urethane Systems has extensive technical and analytical knowledge, as well as special testing and modeling capabilities. With expertise in design and processing, experienced technical teams are able to create valuable new technologies for the most complex challenges.
BROAD RANGE OF RAW MATERIALS
LANXESS has a broad toolbox of ingredients to choose from, which enables development formulations and systems that are customizable for specific applications. Polyurethane is a versatile material with many characteristics that can be tailored for required characteristics, including abrasion resistance, low temperature toughness, resistance to polar chemicals, resistance to water, higher manufacturing productivity and better aesthetics including transparency and color.
GLOBAL COVERAGE AND SUPPORT
Globally integrated and locally available commercial, technical, and research teams provide industry-leading expertise to ensure application success. LANXESS customers are served from manufacturing plants on all continents, with application development centers around the world and a world class R & D facility in the USA. Urethane Systems ensure close collaboration with customers to design the best urethane systems to meet unique performance and processing requirements.
Urethane Systems driven by Innovation
As a specialized provider of urethane systems, LANXESS scientists can tailor solutions to meet specific customer requirements. Placing a strong focus on sustainability, Urethane Systems can offer a broad portfolio providing performance, processing, environmental and health and safety advantages. Collaboration and staying ahead of industry trends drives innovation, LANXESS welcomes the challenge of helping customers meet the most demanding requirements, delivering excellence through leading R&D technical capability and dynamic team work. Read more about the latest innovations below and contact us to talk about your specific applications needs.
Adiprene® LF Technology
Low Free isocyanate technology enables customers to comply with increasingly strict EU regulatory restrictions. These PU prepolymers contain less than 0.1 wt% of residual isocyanate for improved industrial hygiene, and a controlled morphology which offers improved performance and higher productivity.
1K Blocked Systems
New caprolactam-blocked prepolymers for 1K and 2K polyurethane reaction systems: Superior industrial hygiene, controlled curing and excellent component performance
Recycling
Novel approach to designing cast polyurethane (CPU) to be melt recyclable. 100% reuse of waste materials, avoidance of landfill costs, and reduced material costs with use of recycled cast PU.
Aliphatic Low Viscosity Systems
Aliphatic LF HDI, H12MDI, and IPDI based prepolymers for erosion resistant and light stable 1K and 2K PUR coatings can be tailored for optimum coating properties. Low prepolymer viscosity at high solids content can improve thickness and eliminate VOC.
Vibrathane® 7085 novel MDI Ester
A new prepolymer for cast elastomers with unusual properties, yields urethane systems with a combination of low compression set and high tear strength.
Thermoplastic TPUs
Ultralast®thermoplastic polyurethanes upgrade elastomeric materials, and extend high performance, delivering exceptional tear strength, high rebound and superior dynamic properties. Can be used at high temperature, and meet added demands of hydrolytic/chemical and oil resistance.
Elastomer Solutions
LANXESS cast urethane systems, which include prepolymers, curatives and catalysts, provide extensive coverage across a large range of demanding applications, from pipe linings and mining screens to roller coaster wheels and golf ball covers. Adiprene® and Vibrathane® urethane prepolymers are known industry-wide for their high quality and performance on the job, delivering outstanding abrasion resistance, toughness and load-bearing capability.
LANXESS Urethane Systems is on the leading edge of urethane technology, expanding performance, and extending part life in demanding mechanical applications and in harsh chemical and thermal environments. LANXESS offers a wide range of conventional, Low Free (LF) isocyanate, and blocked technologies that enable high performance and processing ease, which makes Adiprene® and Vibrathane® urethane systems excellent choices to replace steel, plastics, rubber, and other elastomers in high performance applications. Our deep know-how in blocked systems and curing options enables processing in both factory and field settings.
CONVENTIONAL MDI AND TDI PREPOLYMERS
Adiprene® and Vibrathane® MDI and TDI prepolymers can be used with Vibracure® curatives to produce elastomers for a range of demanding applications requiring outstanding toughness, abrasion resistance, load-bearing capacity, cut resistance, and resistance to heat build-up. In mining, urethane systems yield components with abrasion resistance and weight reduction compared to traditional materials like steel and other elastomers. For tires and wheels, urethane carries higher loads at higher speeds with lower rolling resistance than other elastomers. In belting, urethane delivers longer lifetime due to outstanding toughness.
Adiprene® and Vibrathane® MDI and TDI prepolymers are available with a wide range of polyol backbones. LANXESS scientists can work with you to customize a special formulation to achieve your ideal performance.
LOW FREE ISOCYANATE PREPOLYMERS
LANXESS is a leading innovator in the development of Low Free (LF) isocyanate technology which brings unparalleled performance and industrial hygiene to cast elastomer applications. LF urethane prepolymers minimize exposure to free isocyanate, a subject of increasing regulatory focus. LANXESS is the only manufacturer offering LF urethane prepolymers with levels of free isocyanate below 0.1% across a wide range of chemistries, including TDI, MDI, pPDI, IPDI, and HDI, and is constantly working to broaden this offering even further.
Unsurpassed Industrial Hygiene
Adiprene® LF prepolymers have low residual isocyanate content of less than 0.1 wt% for improved health and safety during handling and processing. These prepolymers protect workers from potential exposure to residual isocyanate, minimize EH&S workload, and offer reduced hazard classifications.
Excellent Performance
Adiprene® LF prepolymers are chemically structured to provide superior performance, including excellent toughness, fatigue resistance, longer lifetimes when exposed to extreme conditions of temperature and chemicals, and low hysteretic heat build-up for dynamic applications. These prepolymers are used in the most extreme environments including oil and gas, wheels and tires, and mining, along with many other uses in construction, agriculture, automotive, electrical, office equipment and personal care.
Superior Processing & Productivity
Adiprene® LF prepolymers enable you to streamline your manufacturing processes. With the ability to achieve lower viscosity than conventional prepolymers, they enable the casting of very large and complex parts, can minimize the use of solvents in formulated coatings and adhesives, and may be specially formulated for processing at ambient temperature. These prepolymers offer lower viscosity, longer pot life and faster demolding with a range of curatives and catalysts to enable very high productivity.
SPECIALTY PREPOLYMERS WITH UNIQUE PROPERTIES FOR CHALLENGING ENVIRONMENTS
Adiprene®pPDI and LF pPDI urethane prepolymers for demanding applications
Adiprene® pPDI and LF pPDI urethane prepolymers, the latter with less than 0.1% free isocyanate, offer elastomers designed to withstand extreme conditions, where excellent resistance to high and low temperature, water, and chemicals is critical to performance and long part life. They are often used in dynamic applications because of their long life with very low heat build-up from hysteresis and their superior fatigue resistance. Selected Adiprene® pPDI and LF pPDI prepolymers can outperform hydrogenated nitrile butadiene rubber (HNBR) at temperatures as high as 150°C (302°F), opening new application opportunities with performance beyond typical polyurethane elastomers.
Adiprene® pPDI (conventional) and LF pPDI (low free) prepolymers are available with a wide range of polyol backbones. LANXESS scientists can work with you to customize a special formulation to achieve your ideal performance.
Adiprene® aliphatic urethane prepolymers for outstanding weatherability and aesthetics
LANXESS aliphatic Adiprene® LF HDI, LF IPDI, and H12MDI prepolymers offer excellent physical properties for applications requiring clarity, UV stability and weatherability. Adiprene® LF HDI technology enables processors to make elastomers that they won’t make with conventional HDI due to volatility concerns. Adiprene® LF IPDI technology enables excellent aesthetics and weatherability for elastomers, adhesives and coatings. Adiprene® LW conventional H12MDI prepolymers have excellent resistance to hydrolysis at elevated temperatures.
Adiprene®Ribbon Flow® rotational cast prepolymers for fast, efficient roll covering
Adiprene® Ribbon Flow® systems are highly reactive and designed for use with a meter mix machine and a roll rotating mechanism to apply the urethane coating directly to the roll core (or other cylindrical object) without the need for a mold. The material cures on the rotating core as it is applied and the mix head of the meter mix machine slowly traverses the length of the core until the coating is complete. Adiprene® Ribbon Flow® prepolymers can be applied in coatings up to 40mm per pass and deliver tooling savings (no molds), reduced waste, improved productivity and lower production cost than conventional casting. Adiprene®Ribbon Flow® rotational cast urethane prepolymers are available in both conventional and LF (low free isocyanate), in single pass, multiple pass, 2K and 3K systems with various chemistries. LANXESS scientists can work with you to customize a special formulation to achieve your ideal performance.
Adiprene® blocked urethane prepolymers enable processing flexibility
Adiprene® blocked urethanes are based on a technology to control the cure of urethane elastomers. This technology effectively blocks the curing reaction until it is heat activated at the optimum time in the process. This enables the pouring of large and complex parts, and even facilitates the use of hand batching. Blocked systems can be processed with curatives that would otherwise be too fast for traditional unblocked prepolymers, but that provide toughness and other properties not achievable with standard curatives. Blocking of LF prepolymers, which start with lower viscosity, enable more viscous raw materials to be used to achieve unique performance, or to make processing of standard chemistries easier.
Adiprene® blocked urethane prepolymers are available in both conventional and LF (low free) chemistries, with various polyols and blocking agents. LANXESS scientists can work with you to customize a special formulation to achieve your ideal performance.
Ultralast® Thermoplastic Polyurethanes (TPU) for longer life in extreme environments
Ultralast® TPU offers premium performance versus standard TPU and other high grade elastomers in the most extreme applications. With excellent physical and dynamic properties, they enable longer component life, have the ability to withstand both high and low temperatures with better chemical resistance, and provide enhanced cut and tear strength and compression set. Based on LF (low free isocyanate) technology these specialty elastomers have a more regular molecular structure, resulting in both improved processing and end use performance. In the oil & gas, mining and construction industries, seals, pumps, valves and mining screens require heat resistance, cold temperature toughness, chemical resistance and superior dynamic mechanical properties. Ultralast® TPU enhances performance to extend the life of these demanding components.
Applications that are not served by standard TPUs or that currently use more exotic elastomers, such as polyether block amine elastomer (PEBA), copolyester ether (COPE), fluoroelastomers (FKM) and hydrogenated nitrile butadiene rubber (HNBR), can greatly benefit from Ultralast® TPU.
Coatings Solutions
LANXESS provides innovative polyurethane technology as key component for a range of coating systems, leveraging our expertise in urethanes to meet industry demand for sustainable solutions. Our focus is on three areas:
Water-based technology used in our Witcobond® polyurethane dispersions and Trixene®Aqua blocked crosslinkers to comply with increasingly demanding regulations on volatile organic content (VOC), but also to develop high performance and high solids products to bring solutions to specific application needs.
Low Free technology for solvent-free, low monomer Adiprene® and Trixene® prepolymers with unmatched low levels of <0.1% wt. free diisocyanate and excellent performance for demanding applications. Blocking technology to enable 1K formulations for coating applications with a wide range of curing profiles and excellent physical properties for safe and efficient processing.
PU DISPERSIONS FOR WATER-BASED SYSTEMS
Formulators of water-based coating systems can choose from our broad range of Witcobond® polyurethane dispersions. LANXESS offers ester and ether types as well as anionic, nonionic and cationic grades. We can deliver variations in final coating properties, such as hardness, flexibility, toughness and chemical resistance. Witcobond® PUDs can be used in water-based coatings with crosslinkers (such as Trixene® Aqua) to further improve chemical resistance, coating adhesion, and robustness.
LANXESS PUDs are widely used in the fiber sizing industry, and can be tailored for new requirements. They offer superior bonding of filaments in fiber and composite processing, and outstanding physical properties in end applications. Witcobond® is also used for industrial coatings including soft touch applications where the haptics of normally harsh surfaces can be modified. Such coatings protect the base materials used in e.g. automotive interior facias and teletronic components, and provide improved aesthetics. Alternatively, harder Witcobond® products can be used in durable, chemically-resistant 1K and 2K systems, applied to hard substrates such as wood, metals, glass, plastics, concrete and masonry. Waterborne PUDs are broadly used in textile processing, typical applications range from full waterproof and weatherproof coatings, back coatings, laminating adhesives, pigment binders used in textile printing, and clothing with imperceptible finishes on yarns and fibers. Other functional textile uses include protective coatings on belts, ropes, braids, optical fibers and filament yarns.
Our technical team can tailor our polyurethane dispersions to meet specific customer needs for different balance of application properties and technical performance.
BLOCKED ISOCYANATES FOR EXCELLENT PHYSICAL PROPERTIES IN 1K SYSTEMS
LANXESS offers blocking technology to enable 1K formulations for crosslinking and adhesion promotion in a wide range of coatings applications. Heat cured systems overcome compounding limitations and can help to reduce energy consumption or processing time and provide a safer working environment. Heat cure applications require different unblocking temperatures, depending on the type of substrate. LANXESS blocked isocyanate technology and our products designed as solvent-borne, water-based and 100% solids meet the requirements of high performance coatings formulations including: can and coil, transportation, textile, glass and packaging coatings.
Trixene® Aqua range includes water-dispersed latent crosslinkers and adhesion promoters to formulate 1K or 2K heat cure systems, these products offer a wide pH latitude including anionic, nonionic and cationic types with good formulation capability, used in coatings for flexible and hard substrates including glass fiber sizing.
Our range of Trixene® solvent-borne grades serve mainly as crosslinkers for hydroxyl-functional resins (polyester, urethane, acrylic etc.). They are typically formulated into 1K coatings that are dried and cured under factory stoving conditions, e. g. for OEM metal components used in the automotive and consumer goods industries.
Our technical team has specific expertise in the formulation and production of high performance DMP, hybrid and water-based blocked isocyanates.
LOW FREE ISOCYANATE ALIPHATIC AND AROMATIC URETHANE PREPOLYMERS
LANXESS’s range of Low Free (LF) isocyanate Trixene® and Adiprene® LF prepolymers and components, meet the challenges of demanding industrial, wind energy and aerospace environments. The LF technology with <0.1% wt. free isocyanate for low hazard classification, high solids, low odor, and low VOC offers versatility for the formulator and end user, enabling 1K and 2K liquid-applied polyurethane (PU), polyurethane methacrylate (PUMA) and silyl polyurethane (SPUR) protective and liquid waterproofing coatings.
LANXESS aromatic (TDI, MDI) prepolymers offer durability and cost effectiveness, aliphatic (IPDI, HDI) prepolymers deliver performance and enhanced light stability. Aromatic LF MDI and TDI based prepolymers enable liquid applied waterproofing and construction coatings.
Our technical team has specific expertise in high performance prepolymers and components and can advise on customer specification for durability and weathering performance for erosion resistant solutions.
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Trixene® BL and Adiprene® BL blocked urethane prepolymers improve flexibility and impact resistance of epoxy coatings, without compromising chemical resistance. These blocked prepolymers readily react with standard amine hardeners used in 2K epoxy resin formulations, allowing permanent flexibilization of the end product and can also be used to formulate abrasive binders.
Epoxy resins are widely used in the coatings industry as versatile resin component providing excellent durability for industrial, anti-corrosion, and construction coatings delivering longer lifetime of end application. They can be tailored to vary the ratio of epoxy to urethane adjusting impact resistance, scratch resistance and resilience as well as allowing bonding of floor substrates with different thermal expansion to improve acoustic properties.
Our technical team has expertise in blocked prepolymers for epoxy systems and can advise on solutions for specific required properties in end application.
Adhesives and Sealants Solutions
LANXESS Urethane Systems drives development of powerful low monomer prepolymers used as flexible formulation platform for adhesives and sealants and one component foams. The focus is on these areas:
LF (Low Free) monomer technology
The innovative LF (Low Free) monomer technology creates prepolymers with less than 0.1 wt.% free diisocyanate content for excellent adhesive performance, improved processing and unsurpassed industrial hygiene.
High NCO and higher functionality
These advanced functionality prepolymers with customized properties in terms of reactivity, NCO content and viscosity lead to improved crosslinking and increased strength and rigidity in adhesive formulations.
Through this technology, a flexible formulation platform is created which can be used in a diverse range of high performance adhesives and sealant applications, across industrial markets including construction, automotive, electrical and packaging.
The deep expertise in designing a wide range of urethane prepolymers for adhesive systems and associated formulation knowledge qualify LANXESS Urethane Systems as the ideal choice for adhesive formulators.
LF TECHNOLOGY FOR SUPERIOR PERFORMANCE AND LOW MONOMER CONTENT
Adiprene® LF prepolymers have a highly structured morphology to provide superior adhesive performance, including excellent toughness, fatigue resistance, and longer lifetimes when exposed to extreme conditions of temperature and chemicals. This is achieved through a narrow molecular weight distribution, virtual crosslinking, and more defined phase segregation as these define the structure-property relationships in PU adhesives.
The phase segregation morphology between hard and soft segments is driven by the degree of order within the hard segment. This is governed by the chemical structure and concentration of both isocyanate and curing agent as well as the chemical structure and molecular weight of the polyol. The LANXESS prepolymer approach drives controlled morphology and allows enhanced phase segregation of the hard and soft segment domains, thus enabling the creation of high performance materials.
A high NCO content of up to 10% can lead to adhesives with improved physical and mechanical properties while highly crosslinked systems result in increased strength and rigidity for the application in demanding environments. The tight control of viscosity achieves lower viscosity at working temperature for improved processing consistency.
Additionally, LF technology offers environmental, health and safety benefits as it protects workers from potential exposure to free isocyanate and allows the formulation of products with a lower hazard classification (below 0.1 wt.% free diisocyanate content).
CUSTOMIZED SOLUTIONS TAILORED TO APPLICATION
Prepolymers enable unique adhesive formulations designed for target applications. LANXESS offers full low monomer approach for flexible and customized “label-free” adhesives and sealants, especially important for reactive hot melts. Our ability to tailor the properties of the LF prepolymer to the needs of the application allows the generation of a fully flexible formulation platform which provides
– Reduced complexity (short process)
– Improved industrial hygiene by avoiding handling of free monomeric isocyanate during formulation and final use
– Broad toolbox of LF prepolymers with ether or ester based prepolymers with a wide range of NCO content (up to 10%)
– Use of 4,4’ MDI or 2,4 & 4,4’ mixed MDI prepolymers for tailored reactivity
– Storage stability of Adiprene LF prepolymers with <0.1wt% free diisocyanate monomer
LANXESS customized solutions provide more consistent systems and thus consistent quality for your specific end application requirements.
