BYK®-3550 earns 2009 Innovation Award
“The development of a new additive that enhances the leveling and anti-cratering properties of clear coats without affecting recoatability or the adhesion of wrap guard foils” – that was the challenge that the project team accepted with gusto.
Following initial meetings and discussions, the project team members from Research & Development turned straight to the development of the first products. First this involved chemical modifications of existing products. The application engineering characteristics of these products featured good adhesion properties, but their anti-crater effects were not yet sufficiently enhanced.
So the team of developers decided to try a new approach, in which novel structures – so-called silicone macromers – were combined with known polyacrylates. The results of the application engineering tests in the BYK laboratory were highly promising, and samples of the laboratory product were soon sent to the first customers. The feedback from the testing by the customers confirmed this product’s excellent properties. One customer even successfully introduced the product in the production line already in this phase.
The test product ultimately became the commercial product BYK®-3550 in November 2009. The resonance was extremely positive immediately after the global market launch: Numerous samples were supplied and a large number of orders followed.
It was soon clear that the significance of BYK®-3550 extended beyond the Automotive sector. The excellent properties that BYK®-3550 provides particularly impressed the Architectural Coatings segment as well. So the requirements of that application area were very intensively reviewed. The attractive properties of BYK®-3550 for applications in the Architectural Coatings area were soon demonstrated to the first customers.
This outstanding project fully satisfied the evaluation criteria for the 2009 Innovation Award: “innovative problem-solving approach”, “excellent teamwork” and “high market relevance of the product”.
