Novel water-dispersible glycidyl carbamate (GC) resins and waterborne amine-cured coatings

Water-dispersible glycidyl carbamate (GC) functional resins were synthesized and crosslinked using a water-dispersible amine to form coatings. GC functional resins are synthesized by the reaction of an isocyanate functional compound with glycidol to yield a carbamate (urethane) linkage (–NHCO–) and reactive epoxy group. The combination of both functionalities in a single resin structure imparts excellent mechanical and chemical properties to the coatings. Previous studies on the development of GC coatings have focused on solvent-borne coating systems. In this study, GC resins were modified by incorporating nonionic hydrophilic groups to produce water-dispersible resins. To determine the influence of the content of hydrophilic groups on dispersion stability, aqueous dispersions were made from a series of hydrophilically modified GC resins and characterized for particle size and dispersion stability. The composition of a typical, dispersed GC resin particle was predicted using Monte Carlo simulations. Stable GC dispersions were used to prepare amine-cured coatings. The coatings were characterized for solvent resistance, water resistance, hardness, flexibility, adhesion, and surface morphology. It was observed that GC resins were able to be dispersed in water without using any surfactant and by minimal mixing force (hand mixing) and produced coating films with good properties when crosslinked with a compatible waterborne amine crosslinker.