Having researched the U.S. Elastomeric Coatings Market in 2005, it is becoming apparent now that a new type of chemistry, not analyzed in detail in our past research, is becoming a very interesting part of the Elastomeric Coatings market. Introduced into the marketplace a couple of decades ago, in the 1980s, polyurea elastomeric coatings have shown significant growth in terms of both performance and acceptance by different end application markets across the globe.

According to the definition by Polyureas Development Association (PDA) "A polyurea coating / elastomer is that derived from the reaction product of an isocyanate component and a resin blend component. The isocyanate can be aromatic or aliphatic in nature. It can be monomer, polymer, or any variant reaction of isocyanates, quasi-prepolymer or a prepolymer. The prepolymer, or quasi-prepolymer, can be made of an amine-terminated polymer resin, or a hydroxyl-terminated polymer resin."

Polyureas are misinterpreted to be a coating system, but actually is a description of technology. Since its introduction, there has been disarray in its similarities with polyurethane coatings and polyurea/polyurethane hybrid coating systems because of the usage of a similar wide range of raw materials and various additives in achieving desired performances. The two main application areas are Reaction Injection Moulding (RIM) & Sprayable coatings.

The key distinctive feature with polyurea over polyurethanes is the amine terminated (-NH2) resins are used instead of hydroxyl terminated (-OH) resins, also known as polyols, for polyurethanes.

1-K moisture cured urethane systems could be considered as polyurea systems but not the 2-K systems because in 1-K systems reaction between moisture and isocyanate would result in the formation of carbamate, which will breakup instantly into amine terminated molecule which will again react with isocyanate to form urea. Sometimes misinterpreted as modified 2-K polyurethane coatings, the 2-K polyurea coatings are a fairly new technology in the protective coating industry. Despite the fact that Polyurea and Polyurethane coatings do have some common features in both formulations and performances, yet Polyureas are a unique technology in itself. Similar to polyurethanes, polyurea coatings can be either aromatic, aliphatic or polyaspartic ester based.

The majority of Polyureas in use today are aromatic 2-K systems based on methylene diisocyanate (MDI) prepolymers, polyoxypropylene amines and aromatic amine. Other notable aromatic isocyanate, toluene diisocyanate (TDI) is typically not used in the formulation of 2-K fast set spray elastomeric polyurea coatings due to some reasons.

Aliphatic polyurea coatings were introduced into the market after Aromatic based polyurea coatings which are also 2-K systems consisting of a light stable monomer like isophorone diisocyanate (IPDI) or hexamethylene diisocyanate (HDI) as the isocyanate part and a resin blend part like polyoxypropylene diamine.

Polyaspartic Polyurea were introduced in the early 1990's, especially for coating applications on thin substrates which required performance properties like high gloss and color retention. Considered as a slow drying technology having drying time as high as 120 minutes, polyaspartic polyurea coatings are based on trimers or dimers of hexamethylene diisocyanate.

The North American Protective Coatings market was worth $1133 millions in the year 2008. Some of the industrial end market applications where the penetration rate for polyurea coatings is likely to increase are mentioned below. The figure below shows the respective North American industrial protective coatings market revenues and growth rates of these end markets for the year 2008.

Polyurea coatings are used in many application markets like

Both cement and steel bridges are the major growing markets where polyurea coatings find its applications. The key advantage for polyurea coatings lies in its quick curing abilities at temperature as low as -30°F and as high as 140°F makes them the most appropriate coating solutions to put the structure back into service very quickly. Polyurea coatings have certain excellent performance properties like crack-bridging, high elongation and tensile strength.

Water and Wastewater market is another growing market in North America, experiencing a revenue growth rate of 5.7 percent. Performance properties like quick curing, chemical and abrasion resistance makes polyurea coatings a right choice for primary and secondary containment linings. In the sewer market, this is also growing rapidly in North America; polyurea coatings find its abilities in resolving the current issues with groundwater infiltration and installation speed. Polyurea coatings serve as one of the best available options for many municipal and other private water bodies growing needs for linings and structure needs.

The current North American commercial architecture market is still dominated by Acrylics and Urethanes and accounts to more than 85 percent of the market volume, but the Polyureas coatings market revenue share is expected to increase in roof and wall applications wherein urethane coating systems market revenue share is expected to be declining in the near future.

In the Railcar industry, polyurea coatings find its application in lining liquid containment railcars for their waterproofing and chemical resistant benefits.

Polyurea coatings are resistant to saline water and offer other physical properties like high hardness, flexibility, elongation, tear and tensile strength. All these properties make polyurea coatings an ideal coating to be used in the highly corrosive offshore sites.

The U.S. healthcare industry, previously growing at about 4.2 percent was likely to create new demands for the pharmaceutical and biotech plants across the country. It is anticipated that after the economy stabilizes, the growth in the number of new projects will see an increase in use of polyurea coatings.

Polyurea coatings are certainly one of the latest technologies in the protective coating industry and have shown a great deal of versatility and acceptance from the industrial end application markets. Polyurea coatings will certainly find good market opportunities in areas which require structures back into service quickly. With increased environmental pressures and economic and time constraints, the speed and durability of 2-K polyurea coatings holds great promise.