Bridging long pot life with fast cure at low temperature: From concept to development

 
What drives the pot life in an epoxy amine system? Physical drying versus chemical crosslinking: The use of semi-solid reactive polyamidoamines in combination with solid epoxy resins diluted in solvent(s) allows for an outstanding pot life with a reasonably short physical drying time. This technic still widely used requires a very large amount of solvents which are not able to fulfill recent VOC-level limits. On the other hand, new systems complying with latest VOC-regulations for ultra high solid contents so far are handicapped by much longer drying times despite tremendously reduced pot life. We will describe a new route to design curing agents for ultra high solid epoxy systems allowing for a very fast crosslinking at low temperatures (0 - 8°C) with an unmet balance for long pot life at room temperature.u