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Research on the Formula of Polyaspartic Ester Polyurea Concrete Coating and

its Application

Article  in  Applied Mechanics and Materials · September 2013

DOI: 10.4028/www.scientific.net/AMM.423-426.1159

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Applied Mechanics and Materials Vols. 423-426 (2013) pp 1159-1163
© (2013) Trans Tech Publications, Switzerland
doi:10.4028/www.scientific.net/AMM.423-426.1159

Research on the formula of polyaspartic ester polyurea concrete coating

and its application
Jing Feng1, a *, Lingmin Liao1,b, Liang Chen1,c, Chengjing Xiao1,d,
Shanfeng Wang2,e and Hui Li3,f
1
Materials and Structural Department, Changjiang River Scientific Research Institute, Wuhan
430010, P.R. China
2
The University of Tennessee, Knoxville, Knoxville TN 37996, USA
3
School of Materials Science and Engineering, East China University of Science and Technology,
Shanghai 200237, P.R. China
a b c d
980806fj@mail.163.com, liaolm@mail.crsri.cn, chenliang@mail.crsri.cn, xiaocj@mail.crsri.cn,
e f
swang16@utk.edu, lihui@ecust.edu.cn

Keywords: Polyaspartic ester polyurea, coating formula, crack-resistance, impermeability.

Abstract. It’s of great importance to develop various outstanding protective concrete coating with
favorable impermeability and crack- resistance properties. In this study, the polyaspartic ester
polyurea was prepared, and.its adhesion to concrete was evaluated by universal testing machine and
SEM technology. The optimal formula of polyurea was obtained by investigating the effects of each
component’s content on the bonding strength to concrete and the water contact angle. Subsequently,
the mechanical and surface properties of these polyurea coating were tested. The results showed that
the polyurea was obtained by the following formula: the weight ratio of A1/A2/B was 0.612/ 0.408/ 1,
and the fluoride filler content was 3%. The coating exhibited excellent mechanical properties, such as
high bonding strength (4.5 MPa), sufficient tensile strength (16.4 MPa) and elongation at break
(456%). Meanwhile, the coating showed a hydrophobic surface with its water contact angle of 105°.
Hence, the polyurea coating is likely to improve the anti-cracking and impermeability properties of
hydraulic concrete. Till now, the polyurea coating has been applied to the concrete repair and
protection engineering in the South-to-North Water Transfers Project.

Introduction
The durability of hydraulic concrete is crucial to the lifetime and security of the dam project. The
cracks of hydraulic concrete usually lead to extensive and unwanted internal contamination and
structural destruction, resulting in direct corrosion and leakage problems. One approach to preventing
the aforementioned attacks on concrete structures is to coat them with outstanding protective
materials. The polyurea coatings, expecially the polyaspartic ester polyurea coatings, have been
shown to reduce water absorption and improve crack resistance as well [1-3]. These materials lend
themselves to construction because of their unique physical and chemical properties, such as excellent
adhesion to concrete, flexibility, and elongation characteristics, etc [4-6].
In this study, a series of polyaspartic ester polyurea were prepared. First, the adhesion performance
of polyurea to concrete was tested using universal testing machine and scanning electron microscope
(SEM) technologies. Subsequently, an optimal formula of polyurea was obtained by investigating the
effect of each component’s content on the bonding strength to concrete and the water contact angle. In
addition, the mechanical and surface properties of polyurea coating were tested. Finally, the
application of the polyurea coating was briefly introduced.

Experimental
Materials. Hexamethylene diisocyanate (HDI) trimer and isophorone diisocyanate (IPDI)
prepolymer were purchased from Bayer Co., Ltd (Shanghai). Several fluoride fillers were purchased
from Shanghai 3F New Materials Company (Shanghai). Ethylenediamine, maleate, and other
reagents were obtained from commercial sources and used without further purification.

All rights reserved. No part of contents of this paper may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means without the written permission of TTP,
www.ttp.net. (ID: 118.26.244.58, Changjiang River Scientific Research Institute, Wuhan, China-19/09/13,16:48:03)
1160 Applied Materials and Technologies for Modern Manufacturing

Synthesis of polyaspartic ester. The curing agent polyaspartic ester was prepared under the nitrogen
circumstance by the following procedure. To a well-stirred aqueous solution of ethylenediamine,
maleate was added dropwise over 30 min while the temperature of reaction mixture was kept at 35 °C.
Then the reaction was continued for additional 12 hr at 90 °C~100°C.
Preparation of polyaspartic ester polyurea. The aliphatic isocyanate HDI trimer (A1) and the IPDI
prepolymer (A2) were mixed and stirred thoroughly, followed by adding the mixture of polyaspartic
ester and additives (B). The curing reaction occurred at room temperature, and the polyurea products
were obtained.
Characterization and tests. The polyurea products were characterized using Fourier Transform
Infrared Spectroscopy (FTIR) spectra recorded by a BIO-RAD FTS-6000 spectrometer in the range of
4000–290 cm-1(Bio-Rad, US). The mechanical properties such as the bonding strength between the
polyurea coating and concrete, the tensile strength and the elongation at break were measured using
the universal testing machine(AG-IC 100KN, Shimadzu) according to the Test Methods for Building
Waterproofing Coatings (GB/T 16777-2008). And the adhesion interface between the coating and
concrete was observed by scanning electron microscope (SEM) JSM-6610LA, JEOL. The water
contact angle was tested using contact angle tester SL200B.

Results and Discussion

Preparation and characterization of the polyurea. As shown in FTIR spectrum (Fig. 1), the strong
absorption peak of isocyanate groups( N = C = O) at 2270 cm -1 disappeared, while the absorption
peak of urea carbonyl groups (NHCONR) ranging from 1600 cm-1 to 1700 cm-1 appeared. Such
phenomenon indicated the occurrence of curing reaction, and confirmed the structure of the polyurea.

4000 3500 3000 2500 2000 1500 1000 500

Fig. 1 The FTIR spectrum of polyurea

The formula of polyurea coating. The adhesion performance of polyurea coating on concrete is
crucial to exert its protective role in improving the impermeability and crack-resistance of concrete.
Therefore, the bonding strength between the polyurea material and concrete was tested first, followed
by observing the morphology of the concrete/polyurea complex when they were broken by tensile
force. Our previous work suggested that it was beneficial to improve the mechanical properties of
polyurea when the weight ratio of component A to B is 1.20. Herein a further investigation was
conducted to find the effect of the weight ratio of A1 to A2. Results showed that all the polyurea
(1#~5#) with A/B weight ratio of 1.2/1 exhibited favorable bonding strength (>3.5 MPa), which
indicated excellent adhesion to concrete (Table 1). In particular, the polyurea 3# exhibited the optimal
bonding strength with concrete (5.36 MPa). As shown in Fig 2a, the polyurea 3# combined closely
with the concrete while the breaking occurred in concrete phase under tensile forces (Fig 2a). In
addition, the SEM image of the cross section showed no obvious gap or crack (Fig 2b), implying a
strong interface binding between the polyurea and the concrete.
 Applied Mechanics and Materials Vols. 423-426 1161

Table 1 The bonding strength between polyurea coating and concrete

A1/A2/B (w/w/w) Bonding strength
No.
A1 A2 B （MPa）
#
1 0.918 0.102 1 4.16
2# 0.714 0.306 1 4.47
3# 0.612 0.408 1 5.36
4# 0.306 0.714 1 4.13
5# 0.204 0.816 1 3.76

Concrete

Polyurea
Concrete

Fig. 2 The morphorlogy of broken concrete/polyurea complex: a) Appearance of the broken complex;
b) SEM image of the cross section

Fig. 3 The water contact angles of polyurea 3#: a) without filler; b) with 3% JF-2X filler
Water contact angle of concrete coating is an important index of the impermeability properties. A
higher water contact angle of coating surface is usually an indication of a more hydrophobic surface,
consequently the coating exhibited better impermeability. As shown in Fig 3a, polyurea 3# had a
hydrophilic surface with its water contact angle of 78°. Hence, several kinds of fluoride fillers were
used to improve its hydrophobicity. Finally, the JF-2X was selected as the optimal filler. By adding
this filler, the polyurea showed a hydrophobic surface with its water contact angle ranging from 95° to
108 °. When the JF-2X content reached 3%, the water contact angle of polyurea coating was 105° (Fig
3b), while its adhesion performance still met the requirements of coating in hydraulic engineering
(>3.5MPa).
In conclusion, an optimal formula of polyurea coating was obtained as follow: the weight ratio of
A1/A2/B was 0.612: 0.408: 1, and the content of the filler JF-2X was 3%.
Mechanical and surface properties of polyurea coating. The polyurea coating was prepared by the
optimal formula, followed by testing its mechanical and surface properties. As shown in Table 2, the
polyurea coating exhibited excellent bonding strength, flexibility and deformation resistance, which
met the requirement of anti-cracking coating. Besides, surface of the coating was hydrophobic.
Hence, the polyaspartic ester polyurea coating is favorable to improve the crack-resistance and
impermeability properties of concrete.
1162 Applied Materials and Technologies for Modern Manufacturing

Table 2 Mechanical and surface properties of polyurea coating

No. Testing items Results
1 Surface drying time min 52
2 Bonding strength (dry) MPa 4.5
3 Tensile strength（28d） MPa 16.4
4 Elongation at break（28d） % 456
5 Tear strength（28d） N/mm 41
6 Rubber hardness (shao A) - 92
7 Water contact angle ° 105
Application of the polyurea coating. Up to now, the polyurea coating has been applied to the
concrete protection and repair in the South-to-North Water Transfers Project. It was able to repair the
concrete crack of channel lining with good quality and significant economic effects (Fig 4). Besides,
the polyurea coating has been applied to concrete surface protection in Danjiangkou dam project since
last year (Fig 5). As shown in Fig 5, the coating area reached 15000 m2, and the effects of the polyurea
coating was asking for a long-term observation.

Fig. 4 Application of polyurea coating to the crack repair engineering in the South-to-North Water
Transfers Project

Fig. 5 Application of polyurea coating to the concrete surface protection in Danjiangkou dam project

Conclusion
In our present work, the mixture of aliphatic isocyanate HDI trimer (A1) and the IPDI prepolymer
(A2) was considered as component A, and the mixture of polyaspartic ester and fluoride additives was
taken as component B. The two-component polyaspartic ester polyurea coating was obtained by the
following formula: the weight ratio of A1/A2/B was 0.612/ 0.408/ 1, and the fluoride filler content
was 3%. Such polyurea showed strong interface binding to the concrete, and no gap or crack was
observed under tensile forces. Besides, such coating exhibited excellent bonding strength (4.5 MPa),
tensile strength (16.4 MPa) and elongation at break (456%), which met the requirements of
anti-cracking coating. The coating showed a hydrophobic surface with its water contact angle of 105°,
 Applied Mechanics and Materials Vols. 423-426 1163

which is favorable to exert the impermeability. Hence, the polyurea coating is suitable to improve the
anti-cracking and impermeability of hydraulic concrete. Till now, the polyurea coating has been
applied to the repair and protection of concrete in the South-to-North Water Transfers Project.

Acknowledgements
This work was financially supported by the International Science & Technology Cooperation
Program of China (Grant No. 2010DFB70470), Non-profit Industry Research Special Funds Program
of MWR (Grant No. 201301023), Special Fund for Research Institutes of the Ministry of Science and
Technology (Grant No. 2011EG136224) and Basic Research Funds Program of Changjiang River
Scientific Research Institute (Grant No. CKSF2012033/CL). Thanks for the supporting by Innovation
Team of Changjiang River Scientific Research Institute.

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