Improve body shop

productivity
Cut drying time and sagging with a
refinish clear coat formulation based on
Eastman Solus™ 2100 performance additive.
Start with innovation.
Finish with efficiency.
Automotive body shops today face two major challenges:
lower volatile organic compound (VOC) requirements and
higher productivity demands. And sometimes, meeting
one challenge can create a setback for the other.
For example, new clear coats with reduced binder molecular
weight might help you meet VOC limits. But they can
increase drying time—and therefore hinder productivity.
To help formulators meet both VOC requirements and
productivity goals, Eastman developed Eastman Solus™
2100 performance additive to deliver:
• Improved flow and leveling
• Faster dry-to-touch time
• Excellent antisag behavior
• Ease of sanding
• A wider window of polishability
• Improved appearance and gloss
Flow and leveling of clear coat formulation
Without Solus 2100 With Solus 2100
Collaboration
drives productivity.
Eastman also continues to collaborate with industry leaders,
such as Nuplex Resins, to develop innovative solutions that
deliver real-world results.
Solus 2100 performance additive was especially designed
for low-VOC two-component (2K) coatings systems (420 g/L
VOC or less).1
Model studies combining Solus 2100 with Nuplex’s ultrafast-
curing Setalux™ 1910 BA-75 resin provides an unexpected
synergy that can result in faster drying and hardness
development of the clear coat formulation. Adding Solus 2100
to Setalux™ resin may cut drying time by 15 minutes. When
compared to an industry standard, the reduction in drying
time of Solus 2100 containing the Setalux 1910 BA-75 system
is even more pronounced. (See Figure 1.)
What could you do with the extra time?
Increased throughput isn’t the only advantage. Reduced
drying time can also significantly reduce dirt pickup, thus
improving appearance. And, when using Solus 2100, less
curing agent may be required to achieve target drying time
and clear coat hardness. What’s more, the addition of Solus
2100 can help extend pot life, facilitating cleaning and reducing
waste material. (See Figure 2.)
A clear coat formulation based on Solus 2100 performance additive has
1
a slightly higher VOC content than an untreated formulation. It is, however,
still below the legislative limit of 420 g/L.
Figure 1. Drying time of clear coat formulations
with and without Solus 2100
Now it’s easier
Reduced drying time
to create hardness.
70 Faster drying times improve body shop productivity down
Sand-free dry time (min)

60
the line. (See Figure 3, detailing coating hardness vs. time as
measured in accordance with the König method.) A system
50 based on Solus 2100 has the same hardness immediately
40
after curing as a standard system develops in eight hours.
This means that clear coats using Solus 2100 may be polished
30 much earlier than with a standard formulation.
20 Combining the two binder systems of Setalux™ 1910 BA-75
Industry Setalux 10%
standard 1910 BA-75 Solus 2100 resin and Solus 2100 does not affect the gloss level of the clear
coat film. Solus 2100 did slightly reduce the solvent resistance
Binder system
of a clear coat film; however, individual testing is needed to
measure the impact on your specific coatings formulation.

Figure 2. Pot life of clear coat formulations

with and without Solus 2100
Go vertical without sagging.
Extended pot life
140 Clear coat finishes have to look as good as they protect.
Time for viscosity to double (min)

And it is always difficult to apply coatings on a vertical

120
surface without sagging at higher film thickness. Therefore,
100 sag resistance on vertical panels is critical to achieve an
acceptable appearance. The sag limit of a clear coat based
80 on Solus 2100 is 61 µm, which is an improvement of 14 µm
60 when compared to a control formulation. (See Figure 4.)

40

20
Setalux 10%
1910 BA-75 Solus 2100 Figure 4. Sagging performance of clear coat
formulations with and without Solus 2100
Binder system
Improved sag resistance (spray applied)
70
Figure 3. H
 ardness development of clear coat
formulations with and without Solus 2100 60
Dry film thickness
at sag point (m)

Hardness development after baking 50

(60°C/30 min)
40
250
Setalux 1910 BA-75 30
200
10% Solus 2100 20
König seconds

150 Setalux 10%

1910 BA-75 Solus 2100
100 Binder system

50

0
0.01 0.1 1 10 100 1000

Time (h)
Get ready to shine.
New VOC legislation doesn’t have to slow you down.
Automotive body shops can implement faster drying and For more information,
improved hardness development by utilizing Eastman
visit www.eastman.com/solus.
Solus™ 2100 performance additive in a VOC-compliant
clear coat formulation for the refinish market segment.

Coatings formulations
Parts by weight Formulation characteristics
Setalux™ 1910 BA-75 (75% NVC, 3.6% OH) 52.30 Viscosity (DIN4 @ 24°C) 23s
Eastman Solus 2100 performance additive
™
7.92 Acrylic/CAB ratio 90/10
(55% NVC in MIAK, 1.7% OH)
n-butyl acetate 7.90 NCO/OH ratio 1.05
DBTDL %
Eastman™ MIAK 2.02 0.05
(on OH functional resin solids)
DBTDL (1% in n-butyl acetate) 2.18 % NVC (1h @ 120°C) 58.4
Component 1 72.32 SG 0.994
VOC 414g/L
Desmodur N3390 BA (90%) 19.67
n-butyl acetate 5.37
PM acetate 3.53
Component 2 28.57
Thinner
6.0
(n-butyl acetate/1-methoxy-2-propanol acetate 60/40)
Total 106.89

Setalux = Nuplex Resins

Desmodur = Bayer MaterialScience

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