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Author
Martí Aguilar, Xavier
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Abstract
In this work, the feasibility of incorporating an organic filler in a flexible polyurethane coating for the textile sector has been studied. The purpose of incorporating this load is mainly to reduce the amount of polyurethane needed to make a coating, and therefore, to obtain a more environmentally friendly coating, and reduce its cost, since the organic load that replaces the coating, it has a lower production cost.
This work has been carried out at Stahl Holdings B.V. in Parets del Vallès, in the Performance Coatings laboratory, which is dedicated to applying coatings based mainly on polyurethane (PU).
To carry out the study, a second-generation organic load has been selected, that is, a residue of natural origin from a cultivation process. In this case, however, the study has been carried out with grape skins, a common residue in the process of obtaining wine.
Firstly, a study has been carried out at the level of compatibility and mechanical properties of the film, with different products, in polyurethane dispersions in an aqueous medium (WB PUD) and with High solid technology products (polyurethane formulation with a high solid content) (HS) and at different load concentrations.
Once the impact that the load has on polyurethane-based products has been seen, the different load concentrations have been selected for each type of product (HS and WB PUD) that will lead to a coating focused on a coating destined for a final market. This coating has been applied by the method called transfer coating or transfer coating. This includes the process of applying and drying several layers on a transfer paper before being laminated to a fabric. It has been observed that the addition of filler increases the hardness of a water-based polyurethane film, and consequently decreases the elasticity. On the other hand, in an HS film, it increases positively both the hardness and the elasticity of the film, probably because the charge can positively affect the film formation and the cohesion of the molecules. Despite the results obtained At the film level, when applying a complete coating in a 4-layer coating with grape skin within each layer of the coating, after performing the physical tests corresponding to flexibility and abrasion, no difference was observed between two coatings, one that contains grape skin and one that does not.
In the future, it should be studied in more detail how the characteristics of the filler influence the performance of the coating, whether by morphology, origin or particle size, since each filler can provide very different results.
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