Flooring & Coatings

Technology  Chemical Background  Characteristics  Applications  References  Innovations

Technology

Basically, the substrate of floors may consist of several materials, predominantly mineral based like concrete or cement screed, magnesia and anhydrite screeds, besides asphalt and, to a minor extent, wood.
All of  these substrates have in common, that only in a few cases they comply with the operational requirements without further measures. Among these requirements are abrasion resistance, reduction of dust, density against liquids, chemical resistance, easy cleaning or even decontamination possibilities, to name a few.

Coating floor substrates with liquid reactive resins can fulfill all these requirements and offer additional benefits. It is possible to cope with project specific demands like colouring, surface design and texture, EHS-regulations, maintenance intervals and many more.

A wide variety of coating types is available, beginning with sealing coats of approx. 0,1 mm and reaching an upper end with polymer mortar screeds of several centimeters thickness. Between these extremes, nearly everything is possible, from tough-rigid to highly flexible and from insulating to electrically conducting coatings.

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Chemical Background

Reactive resins for coatings are classified in three essential binder systems:

a) epoxy resins:

Scheme:

b) polyurethane resins:

Scheme:

c) polymethylmethacrylate resins:

Scheme:

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Characteristics

• Sika's core competence in flooring technology allows to fulfil a wide range of requirements.
• High compressive strength and low abrasion values withstand mechanical exposure.
• Dependent on binder and grade of cross-linking a good up to extremly high chemical resistance is achieved.
• Even at low temperatures flexible systems render protection of crack exposed substrates.
• Electrostatically conductive coatings offer protection of persons and sensitive construction elements.
• Individual design variations allow perfect coordination of safety, aesthetics, maintenance and comfort.

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Applications

Sika offers all mentioned materials for floorings under the trademark "Sikafloor".
Especially in the Construction Division, Sikafloor coatings are used in all possible areas of industrial buildings from simple warehouses up to clean room facilities. Also, residential and administrational  buildings more and more benefit from the multiple properties of Sika coatings.
Sika's Industry Division employs comparable materials especially in the BTR (bus/truck/rail) segment and also in shipbuilding.

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References

More than 20 million square meters of floor covering are applied successfully each year with Sikafloor products worldwide. Main fields lay in the segments food (Nestlé), electronic and cleanroom industry (Infineon, AMD, Aventis/HMR), automotive (VW, DaimlerChrysler), car parking structures and all other types of industrial buildings.

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Innovations

1980's launch of Sikafloor EpoCem, the first large scale successful waterborne epoxy-cement combination.

1996 patent for  Sika P.E.T. tech upcycling technology: Employing used PET-bottles, a high-quality binder for floor coatings is developed.

1997 introduction of the first single coat, highly resistant bund area coating with Sikafloor-390.

2001 Sikafloor-300 New, worldwide the first synthetic resin coating remaining beyond the VOC-limits for interior rooms, comparable with the best sheet systems. Certificate by the LGA Bayern (Bavaria, Germany).