Paint hardeners

Hardeners are special chemical compounds which are added into different repair materials for polymerization. The agents provide compounds curing, positively affect their drying speed and coating strength.

Types of hardeners

According to a field of application, several types of these products are pointed out. Special agents are produced for:

• paints (acrylic or epoxy),
• lacquers,
• adhesives,
• body fillers.

There are also some agents on the market made specifically for products of certain brands. Moreover, their compositions differ from one another according to how they function:

• Hot. Polymerization requires special equipment because it takes place at temperature from +50 °C. Such products are phenolic resins, maleic anhydride and others. These agents form a film, which is resistant to high temperatures and mechanical damages.
• Cold. Curing is performed at room temperature and doesn’t involve the use of professional equipment. Polyethylene polyamine (PEPA), triethylenetetramine (TETA), diethylenetriamine (DETA), aminophenolic products (2-AP, 22-AP) are the most widespread among such agents.

Composition

Content of hardeners differs according to products purpose. For example, for polymerization of epoxy materials you can use solution of low-molecular hexamethylenediamine in ethyl or isopropyl alcohol, low-molecular polyamide P0-200 in mixture of dissolvent agents, oligomer complex which appeared after a reaction of phenol, ethylenediamine and formaldehyde. Hardeners which include benzoyl peroxide are produced for urea-formaldehyde based adhesives and polyether agents. Organic and non-organic acids based materials are used for car body fillers.

Tips on hardeners use

1. Study the instruction thoroughly: some agents should be added to the main product right before using and thoroughly mixed for getting homogeneous mixture, others – applied to the surface beforehand.
2. Follow specified ratio of components. Adding too much hardening product can quickly make the composition useless.
3. When components are mixed, they can be used within several hours only.
4. Residues of the hardening agent can be stored only in a sealed container. Entering into a reaction with air the product can crystallize.

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