Rheological and Thermal Characterization of Polymer Coatings: A Case Study

This article addresses the value of collecting mechanical and thermal property data for better understanding the development of coating properties. As a case study, the rheological and thermal characterization data of two solventborne systems (a polyamide-cured epoxy and a moisture-cured RTV silicone) and a 100% solids system (polyetheramine-cured epoxy) are discussed along with the experimental considerations when conducting these types of studies. For the two solventborne systems, dynamic mechanical analysis (DMA) and differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) were used to characterize the liquid-to-solid transformation of these functional coatings. In particular, for the polyamide-cured epoxy, the effects of solvent addition and cure temperature (ambient vs heat-cured) on the resulting properties were investigated. For the 100% solids polyetheramine-cured epoxies, an in situ DMA immersion test for measuring the solvent resistance of coatings is presented. For these materials, lower crosslink density formulations exhibited more dramatic decreases in modulus with solvent uptake.