Pushing the boundaries of possibility with innovative coating raw material developments

Covestro, formerly Bayer MaterialScience is appearing at the European Coatings Show under its new name for the first time. The company has a large booth at the trade fair in Nuremberg in Hall 4A, Booth Number 528. The focus is on innovative and sustainable coating raw material developments and their use in near-series projects. More than just examples of concrete applications, they also document the great interest of key industrial segments.
"For 80 years innovations have been the engine of progress for our company,” said Board Member for Innovation and Chief Commercial Officer Dr Markus Steilemann while speaking to journalists. "We don’t rely solely on our own research efforts here, but also collaborate intensively with partners along the value chains. This enables us to push existing boundaries and offer added value for our customers.”

Sustainability targets met
"But all of our developments must also meet our sustainability goals,” said Steilemann. "They should drive energy efficiency and improve people’s lives, but also reduce our own use of fossil raw materials. At the European Coatings Show we are using concrete projects to illustrate how they can also meet the sustainability goals of our customers.”
Covestro, therefore, wants to bring more biobased products to the market, provided that they are cost-effective, have a small ecological footprint and their technical properties are at least as good as, if not better than, those of existing petrochemical-based products.

Renewable coating raw materials trending
The use of biobased coating raw materials is becoming increasingly important. One of the driving forces here is growing market interest in sustainable products. Covestro is committed to raw materials from biomass and has now expanded its portfolio once again.
The latest product is the hardener Bayhydur eco 7190. It is the first polyurethane hardener for waterborne, two-component polyurethane coatings and is very well suited for coating furniture more sustainably, for example. The raw material is the perfect complement to the hardener Desmodur eco N 7300 and the dispersion Impranil eco. All three products are made from up to 70% biomass and do not compete with food production.
Covestro is presenting a number of visionary, and in some cases near-series, applications with these products at the European Coatings Show. "They are the results of close collaboration with partners along the entire value chain,” said Daniel Meyer, head of the Coatings, Adhesives, Specialties segment. "That underscores the strong industry interest in these developments.”

First automotive coating with biobased hardener
The highlight of the Covestro booth is an Audi Q2. It is one of a number of test bodies to which a clearcoat containing a biobased hardener was applied for the first time under realistic production conditions. The two-component coating was developed by BASF’s Coatings division.
It contains the coating hardener Desmodur eco N 7300, which helps to improve the customer’s eco-balance without compromising product quality. "The three partners were very pleased with the results obtained when coating the test bodies on existing equipment at Audi,” said Daniel Meyer.

Debut in rail vehicle coating
The biobased hardener also recently made its debut in the coating of commercial vehicles. Polish rail vehicle manufacturer Newag SA used a coating formulated with Desmodur eco N to coat two diesel locomotives. Lankwitzer Lackfabrik of Berlin developed the coating in close collaboration with Covestro. The coating meets the specifications of the rail vehicle industry and offers 70 percent better gloss stability and abrasion resistance than standard coatings.
Milan-based furniture specialist RiFRA, coatings manufacturer Sirca and Covestro conducted a feasibility study to demonstrate that waterborne furniture coatings could be formulated even more sustainably by reducing the content of fossil resources. They succeeded in doing just that with the new biobased hardener Bayhydur eco 7190, which can reduce the carbon footprint of coatings formulated with it by roughly 30%.

Coating furniture under extreme conditions
RiFRA tested the first biobased, waterborne, 2K polyurethane coating under extraordinary conditions. It exhibited very good mechanical and chemical resistance even in damp kitchen and bath environments. The company is currently presenting a line of designer furniture featuring the coating at the Salone del Mobile in Milan, Italy.
The biobased, waterborne polyurethane dispersion Impranil eco opens up a new dimension in the sustainable coating of textiles. The newest product in Covestro’s INSQIN lineup, it offers an improved eco-balance over the entire life cycle of coated textiles while also helping to conserve water. Covestro is thus helping brand owners and textiles manufacturers to achieve their sustainability goals.

Unique design with DirectCoating
Unique designs at competitive costs – this is Covestro’s aspiration for its DirectCoating technology. Carmakers want to meet customer demand for greater interior customization options even as they strive to increase productivity.
With the help of DirectCoating, coated plastic components can be produced in a single production step rather than the total of five forming and coating steps required by the conventional process. DirectCoating can also reduce costs by up to 40% and energy consumption by as much as 75%. Covestro offers a complete package of coatings and plastics expertise.

New dimension of design freedom
A successful joint project with Votteler Lackfabrik suggests that a breakthrough is imminent for DirectCoating technology. It can be used to create parts with new and attractive designs combining different shades, surface structures and haptic properties even on a single component.

Covestro is also presenting innovative and sustainable developments from six different industrial segments at the European Coatings Show.