Home General Using ArmorThane’s Polyurea for Blast Protection

Using ArmorThane’s Polyurea for Blast Protection

by Bedliner Review

Armorthane was recently selected to assist NATO with testing our ...

I was surprised to find a company that sells blast-resistant structures recently presented an article concerning the potential risks of polyurea coatings when applied to blast-resistant structures. I am going to respond to this article today!
The material comprised supposed facts from three supposed scientific studies, though the studies were not referenced by name. Therefore they cannot be verified.

WHAT IS POLYUREA?
Polyurea is a highly flexible elastomer. It’s commonly used in the consumer world as a lining for truck beds. It has many industrial uses, like a coating or lining for steel pipes and tanks to protect from corrosion, as a roof coating to give reflectivity and a cooling effect, and as a containment arrangement in marine aquarium designs, to name a few.

WHAT ABOUT THOSE STUDIES ON POLYUREA AND BLAST-RESISTANCE?
Our technicians find those studies to be unclear at best, with both positive and adverse conclusions. The reference tests on steel plates of varying thickness were comparable to what you might find on the corrugated walls of a Biomedical research building (BRB).

When it comes to blast-resistance, the structural integrity of a building’s design is the most important factor in blast protection. Still, the next thing is the protective coating around that structure. The wall panels are essential, but our blast testing revealed that the polyurea sprayed areas could withstand tremendous blasts.

When the structure itself has redundancies built into the walls and roof, like the wall studs’ close spacing, the outer coating won’t have any bearing on structural integrity.
There is no doubt polyurea affects blast-resistance. This shows the significance of selecting a good polyurea when blast proofing any structure.

To sum up, one can only conclude that polyurea protects structures when applied correctly to any structure.
To learn more about ArmorThane’s blast testing, click here.

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