Lanxess Launches Advanced Water‑Based Dispersions for Enhanced Glass Fiber Sizing

Specialty chemicals company Lanxess (Cologne, Germany) has expanded its Trixene Aqua range of water-based blocked isocyanate dispersions. The product family now includes new grades, specifically designed to expand  application areas and meet more demanding customer needs.

The product lineup includes Trixene Aqua BI 120, an adhesion promoter, and Trixene Aqua BI 522, a coating. However, the product most applicable to composites manufacturing is Trixene Aqua BI 202 sizing technology developed to improve chopped glass fiber strand strength and impact resistance, and impart higher mechanical and flexural properties. Trixene Aqua BI 202 is applicable in combination with Witcobond polyurethane (PU) dispersions.

Generally, Lanxess says its Trixene Aqua products are excellent crosslink and adhesion promoters for aqueous coatings systems. They reportedly boost the chemical and mechanical resistance of coatings and sizing formulations to enable improved performance and durability in the final application. As blocked isocyanates, the dispersions are said to be more stable than their respective free counterparts and can easily be formulated in one-component and two-component systems, together with a variety of complementary aqueous resins, such as hydroxy-functional acrylics, polyesters and urethanes.

Lanxess says its recent studies disclose formulation principles, preliminary selection of appropriate building blocks, ratio and curing conditions. The selection criteria are based upon a preliminary evaluation of the coatings properties, and help the formulator to commence work with Trixene Aqua BI crosslinkers.