Loveland, Ohio-based Sirrus Inc., a developer of next-generation crosslinking platforms for coatings and adhesives, has entered into a joint development agreement with the coatings division of BASF.
The agreement allows BASF to further develop a new class of automotive coatings based on Sirrus’ proprietary methylene malonate technology.
“Being one of the leading paint suppliers to the automotive industry, BASF’s coatings division is an innovative partner for its customers and always strives for exploring new technologies,” said Harald Borgholte, BASF’s vice president of strategic marketing and product development.
“The methylene malonate platform is an interesting opportunity for us in many aspects, particularly to provide OEMs [original equipment manufacturers] with more sustainable and energy-saving coating solutions,” Borgholte added.
Advantages of Methylene Malonate
According to Sirrus officials, methylene malonate monomers and their oligomeric crosslinking derivatives have the unique advantage of polymerizing rapidly at ambient temperatures — without the need for ultraviolet light, high temperatures, or high-solvent loading required by many incumbent automotive coating systems.
Malonate-cured coatings can also reduce the energy requirements, environmental footprint, and total ownership cost of automotive paint lines, the crosslinking platforms developer explained.
Meeting Automotive Performance Goals
“The automotive industry’s drive toward reducing energy, capital, and solvent in coating finishing technologies is inevitable,” said Sirrus CEO Jeff Uhrig. “At the same time, the industry will not tolerate any loss in manufacturing throughput or performance of the finished coating.”
“Our malonate platform is a key enabling technology in meeting the industry’s environmental, safety, cost reduction, and performance goals,” Uhrig added.
With a growing intellectual property portfolio of more than 30 patents, the group’s technology platform aims to bring ambient-temperature cure and performance enhancements to a wide variety of coatings, adhesives, sealants, and binders.