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Industrial Floor Repairs: PU vs Acrylicon

Industrial floor repairs can cause more hassle than they solve if they’re not carried out correctly. It’s a common misconception that when certain resins can be walked on, that they are performing. This is not the case.

There’s a range of different resins used for industrial floor repairs, all with very different performance levels. Some cure quick but aren’t strong, some are strong but take days to cure.

This blog will take a look at Polyurethane (PU) vs Acrylicons unique chemical construction to see which handles each element of industrial floor repairs better.

Speed Of Cure And Installation

Having a floor repaired in any environment where day to day business is disrupted causes hassles to the workers and production. Having a floor that’s not only quick to install but also quick to full cure is essential, ensuring minimal if any money is lost due to downtime.

Polyurethane takes anything between 5-12 hours to install and cure, meaning a shutdown is inevitable-even for a small patch.

Acrylicon reaches a full chemical cure within just two hours of installation, meaning the surface can be subject to full operational use in an extremely tight turnaround. Due to its efficiency, repairs are often carried overnight, resulting in no loss of production.

Installation Conditions

Temperate can play a big part in industrial floor repairs, especially in cold stores, coolers and blast freezers.  In most cases, Polyurethanes shouldn’t be installed at temperatures of less than 5-10 C with optimal conditions being around 20 C.

The time and disruption it takes to bring these areas up to an ambient temperature can also dramatically increase the length of shut down, often making the repair uneconomical overall.

Acrylicons unique flooring solution can be installed at temperatures down to -25 C without having any detrimental effect on cure time. This makes Acrylicon an ideal industrial flooring choice for any chilled areas such as commercial kitchens and food and beverage factories.

Bonding Technology

The way the Acryliocn and PU resins bond differs hugely. Polyurethane resin is a thermoset plastic and only achieve a mechanical bond between installation layers.

Each new layer “sticks” to the layer below or the subfloor, resulting in bond lines which are prone to delamination. This means that any patches are simply “stuck in” like a pothole in a road and over time they get bigger and bigger, often requiring re-doing every year or so thereafter.

Acrylicon Resins are Thermoplastics which achieve a chemical bond between each installation layer, resulting in a monolithic system that will not delaminate. This means each new layer chemically fuses to the previous layer (or existing subfloor) creating a virtually unbreakable bond.

Durability

Many Polyurethane resins are not UV resistant creating long-term performance issues indicated by discolouration. Acrylicon resins are totally UV resistant and do not become brittle with age.

The unique chemical construction of Acrylicon Resins means that they do not change over time. Combining that with the high compressive strength, it makes Acrylicon the ultimate hard-wearing, long-lasting resin flooring system.

Drain Repairs

Repairing industrial flooring around areas such as drains can cause issues with PU resins. As previously mentioned, most resin floors are ok to walk on in only a few hours. However, this doesn’t mean they are always fully chemically cured. This can sometimes take days.

As you’d expect, drains are key areas for water to gather. Resuming production before the resin is fully cured can jeopardise the performance of the repair, often resulting in another repair a few months down the line.

Acrylicon’s industrial Resin Flooring Systems are not only safe to be walked on after 2 hours, but they are fully chemically cured, meaning you can resume business as normal.

The other advantage of using Acrylicon is that is can be bonded directly to drainage channels, creating reliable and durable repairs or installations.

In many cases, polyurethanes will require an expansion joint to be installed, which creates a weak point around the drain that is often the cause of water penetration under the drain, that in turn eats away the concrete and leads to a drain collapse.

Acrylicon also has unique fast cure non-porous screeds which can back-fill holes around and under drains.

Acrylicon can perform floor repairs at weekends and out of hours to ensure minimal disruption to your business.

To arrange a free no-obligation floor survey from one of our local experts, get in touch.

About Acrylicon

Acrylicon, the go-to industrial flooring company, has been implemented by Unilever, Walkers, McCains, Network Rail and many more companies that understand the cost implications of shutting down.

Their fast cure, combined with the immense compressive strength saves you time, money and hassle when it comes to your industrial flooring. They can work at weekends or in business downtime to ensure minimal disruption to your daily processes.

With a life expectancy of up to 4-8 times longer than traditional resins, Acrylicon’s unique chemical composition ensures you get better value for money than from any other resin floor available.

Acrylicon’s long-lasting resin flooring is used across a variety of sectors including in food factories, commercial kitchens, warehouses, hospitals, supermarkets and car parks.

New flooring comes with a 10-year performance warranty for complete peace of mind. Every installation is carried out by trained and certified regional installers, so there are no split warranties.