Gurit reformulates epoxy products with bio-content

Gurit (Zurich, Switzerland), a supplier of high-performance epoxy products, continues to deliver on market and customer formulation needs, now including options that are more environmentally friendly and safer for customers to use. Gurit says it provides a complete range of formulated products including adhesives, in-mold gelcoats, laminating and multipurpose systems with bio-content as standard. This includes its Prime resin infusion range for composite tooling and components and Ampreg wet laminating range.

Prime infusion systems applications range from single-operation molding of carbon fiber yacht masts, up to 80′ yacht hulls and wind turbine blades. Gurit says these liquid epoxy systems have been developed for “under the bag” infusion processes, including the Seeman composites resin infusion molding process (SCRIMP), resin infusion under flexible tooling (RIFT) and vacuum-assisted resin transfer molding (VARTM).

Prime 37 has been developed to deliver optimal laminate quality for a range of liquid infusion composite processes. In addition to optimized cure characteristics (mixed viscosity remains lower for longer; faster through-cure, avoiding a low-strength “sugary” phase; and improved exotherm control), Prime 37 is also Lloyd’s certified and is produced with bio-based content as standard. By using Ampreg 3X low toxicity hardeners, Prime 37 also has “market-leading health and safety,” Gurit says and enables customers to take advantage of the blendable hardener speeds which can be tailored to suit each application.

The Ampreg 3X series is used for the manufacture of large composite structures in the marine, wind and construction industries. The portfolio comprises a single range of low-toxicity, blendable Ampreg 3X hardeners that can be used in conjunction with the following resins:

• Ampreg 30 low-viscosity resin
• Ampreg 31 drainage resistance resin
• Ampreg 36 premium performance resin

Additional ancillary products including Thixotropic Pregel resin and high T_g hardeners are also available. Notably, Ampreg has been reformulated to prioritize user health and safety through careful selection of base chemicals. The new low toxicity resin matrix is CMR, SVHC and AEP free and the hardeners are classified as environmentally non-hazardous.