A collaboration between two of the world’s biggest chemicals companies has resulted in an innovative coating developed by AkzoNobel being used to help turn the former corporate HQ of Bayer in Germany into the largest media façade in the world.
From mid-2009 onwards, the 122-meter high building in Leverkusen will effectively become a giant screen, capable of displaying Bayer’s colored logo at a height of up to 40 meters. The façade will also be used to send out scrolling messages to the surrounding region.
But it’s not only the outside of the building which is attracting admiring glances. Inside, the 30,000 square meter steel structure has been protected with the Intercure® 99 coating supplied by AkzoNobel’s International Paint business. The product is based on polyaspartic binding agents of the Desmophen® NH range from Bayer MaterialScience.
“Intercure® 99 offers major economic and ecological benefits compared with conventional coating systems,” explained Terry Gilhooley, Central Europe Sales Manager for International Paint. “The product makes you think differently about productivity because it only requires two layers.”
Added Thomas Bäker, Manager of the corrosion protection laboratory at Bayer MaterialScience: “One of the reasons the third layer is no longer required is because with coatings based on polyaspartics, a clearly thicker layer can be applied in a single application than with conventional systems."
The reduction in required layers means that labor costs fall, while the product also dries faster, enabling work on adjacent areas to start much quicker when buildings are being renovated. Another important benefit concerns the environment. “A twolayer system with an Intercure® 99 coating contains about 40 percent fewer volatile organic components than a comparable three-layer system," continued Gilhooley.
Coatings based on polyaspartics therefore provide an answer to the increasingly strict VOC guidelines being introduced across the globe. Adds Bäker: “In combination with an aliphatic polyurethane curing agent from the Desmodur® N range, ultra-high-solid coatings with low VOC can be formulated using polyaspartics which clearly exceed the current statutory requirements.
"The experts at AkzoNobel recognized the potential of our polyaspartic binding agents at a very early stage," he went on. “AkzoNobel and Bayer MaterialScience have since worked closely together during preparations to launch the corresponding systems onto the market.”