Legislation‐compliant polyurethane and epoxy coatings

Legislation is currently the key driver in the coatings industry. Reduction of the volatile organic content (VOC) of coating systems is a main aim. This may be achieved by designing the resin and coating with water as the carrying solvent. Reduction of resin viscosity to enable high solids coatings production is another route. The design and development of legislation‐compliant paint formulations based on water‐based epoxy resin systems and high solids polyurethane topcoats is discussed. A short review and discussion of the weaknesses of traditional accelerated test methods including salt‐spray, QUV^TM and Prohesion^TM used to check coating performance is presented. Some simple reaction and degradation mechanisms are shown.