Closing the Cost / Performance Gap in High Performance Anti-Corrosion Waterborne Epoxy Coatings

 
Waterborne epoxy systems have shown the ability to perform as well as, or better than their solventborne counterparts in a variety of coating applications. Waterborne epoxy technology can even be used in Zinc-rich primers for the marine and container market. In market segments such as transportation and general industrial, waterborne has now become a leading application technology. Another hurdle for the growth of waterborne epoxy technology is to close the cost gap between waterborne and traditional solvent-borne epoxy coatings. Different routes have been considered to close this gap such as improved formulations, resin and curing agent design, and optimized processes. This paper will cover work that has been done to reduce costs using these approaches while maintaining the excellent performance characteristics of leading waterborne epoxy binder systems.