Wesel, September 4, 2018 – This year’s “BYK Advance” prize has been awarded to the team behind the development of a new family of hydrophilic additives, with its flagship BYK-3560.
Many unresolved issues with overcoatability in the coating industry were the drivers and motivation for developing the hydrophilic additive concept. The first development BYK-3560 is definitively a breakthrough product and a contribution to BYKs strategic goals to uncover its customers' challenges and provide them with unique solutions.
BYK-3560 increases the surface energy of cured coatings overall, especially the polarity resulting in an improvement in the adhesion of subsequent layers such as in automotive multilayer coatings, lamination foils, adhesives, printing inks etc. The next development BYK-3565 incorporates additional beneficial effects to the hydrophilic properties. The challenge consisted not only in increasing the surface energy unilaterally but also in visibly improving the coating’s anti-crater properties. Therefore it was not a surprise that BYK-3565 has already been rewarded with the Ringier 2016 Coatings Technology Innovation Award. The jury was equally impressed by the work of the international and interdisciplinary research teams behind BYK-3565.
BYK-3560 and BYK-3565 are both based on the macromer technology and are recommended for a wide range of water-borne, solvent-borne, UV-curable and high solid systems. They set a new standard with the use of hydrophilic additives for overcoatability improvement in multilayer coatings.
BYK is one of the world’s leading suppliers in the field of additives and measuring instruments. Additives are chemical substances which, when used in small quantities, improve product properties such as scratch resistance or surface gloss. Manufacturing processes are also optimized by the addition of additives.
The coatings, inks, and plastics industries are among the main consumers of BYK additives. Yet with the production of oil and gas, the manufacture of care products, the production of adhesives and sealants, and construction chemistry, too, BYK additives improve the product characteristics and production processes. Testing and measuring instruments from BYK can effectively evaluate the quality of color, gloss, and appearance as well as the physical properties of paint, plastic, and paper products and are an important part of quality control.
As a globally operating specialty chemicals company, BYK has production sites in Wesel, Kempen, Moosburg, Schkopau and Geretsried (Germany), Deventer, Denekamp and Nijverdal (Netherlands), Widnes (UK), Wallingford, Chester, Gonzales, Louisville, Rochester Hills, Earth City (USA) and Tongling (China).
Today the company employs around 2,250 people worldwide and forms part of the ALTANA Group.
This press release is also available on the Internet at www.byk.com/press.
