The floor is breathing!

Floorings are often reduced to their functionality: Installed in warehouses, schools or hospitals, self-leveling epoxy resin coats concrete floors all over the world with a protective layer and levels unevenness. Its aesthetics contrasting the rough substrate seem to be a minor point. However, a wide variety of colours and effects as well as a glossy or matte finish has been developed which has turned epoxy-coated floorings into design elements.

As increasingly aesthetic as they might have become, floorings still faced a serious problem: Blisters due to water vapour could ruin its look. Concrete is a permeable material which means water vapour can enter it, exit it and freely move within its structure. This moisture transfer phenomenon often led to flooring failure, which added up to expensive repairs.

Attempts to develop epoxy systems that address this issue were unsuccessful for many years because of their limited ability to mitigate moisture vapour. But then, an innovative waterborne curing agent by Evonik's Crosslinkers business line captured the market. With its introduction in the year 2000, Epilink® 701 waterborne curing agent offered a revolutionary new approach to moisture mitigation by allowing floor coatings to breath. So trapped moisture can escape through the floor without causing blistering. In addition, the product offers exceptionally fast cure speed and excellent robustness in formulated coatings and self-leveling floors. This means floors can be laid and returned to service quickly, without the extra costs involved with reducing the moisture content of the concrete.

For 20 years now, leading floor coating manufacturers have chosen Epilink® 701 to formulate breathable coating and self-leveling floor systems. When tallied up, it’s the equivalent squared meters of floor coating to cycling more than ten times around Earth’s equator on a one meter wide bicycle path. That’s track-record industry performance in a nutshell – or in other words: This is called a real success story!