Modern Construction Materials

Prof. Ravindra Gettu

Department of Civil Engineering
Indian Institute of Technology - Madras

Lecture - 41
Floor Finishes - Guest Lecture

Good afternoon ladies and gentleman. We represent a company called Cipy Polyurethanes
who are pioneers in the field of floor coatings since 1976. We are basically distributors for
them in Tamil Nadu and our company name is Swathi Engineering Agencies. For the last 16
years, we have been associated with Cipy Polyurethane as distributors for Tamil Nadu and
Uttaranchal. And my colleague Mr. Suresh Kumar will explain in detail about the products.

Thank you. Good evening everyone. Today we are going to talk about floor toppings.
Basically, the floor coverings, what are the protective ways of covering the floors? And I will
just go about the different kinds of toppings available in the market and what we also handle
and we will also discuss about how do we select these toppings also? What topping is suitable
for a particular type of flooring? And from there we will go on. We will take questions in the
last from you people okay. Thank you.
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Cipy polyurethane by itself is about 30 years or 35 years being in the country. They are the
people who bought in polyurethane coatings to the country. In 1976, it came out with a
coating grade of polyurethane, which 100 microns coatings, then slowly they developed into
epoxies, then they developed EPU floorings and then they came into polyurethane concrete
floorings.
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(Refer Slide Time: 02:00)

(Refer Slide Time: 02:04)

So we will just go one by one. What all available in the market? This just gives you a brief
about how they started in 1976 and the slide in the last in the right side shows the factory in
Pune in 2012.
(Refer Slide Time: 02:16)
These are some of the products, which they handle like flooring, ESD flooring, deck coatings
then concrete sealers, protective coatings, wall coatings, spray applied polyurethanes, then
polyureas, OE supplies of paints, clear coating, water proofing, adhesives, sealants and
grouts. All these products are basically if you see they are all protective to any surface you
take it. Either you take concrete, steel, any masonry surface, or anything; they are all
protective products for any kind of surfaces. Now we are going to concentrate only on floor
in this session.
(Refer Slide Time: 02:59)

Now in flooring generally there are different kinds of materials used. One is polyurethane,
epoxy, EPU, there is a moisture curing urethanes, there are different acrylics, then polyurea
and polyaspartics.
(Refer Slide Time: 03:19)
Now in Cipy, these products are classified into different brands we have it by ourselves, for
example polyurethanes are called Floorkotes, epoxies are called Cipoxy range of products,
then EPU is called epoxy polyurethane are called Cipothanes, PU concrete is called
Duracrete, U coat is again a polyurethane single component coating and Aquawood is for the
protective for wood coatings for wood and flooring and all that.

Securea is again a protective coating for big pipelines, cross-country pipelines where it goes
under the earth and it has been buried for about even 20 years or 25 years, it stays there as
protective layer. And Polyseal is again a sealant, which we use for fill all the gaps in the
concrete surface.
(Refer Slide Time: 04:19)
Now when we come to new generation flooring that is what is available today if you see
epoxy floorings, EPU, polyurethane, epoxy and polyurethane floorings, ESD floorings, and
then polyurethane concrete floorings, then green floors, then polyaspartic floorings, one-day
flooring, and then densi polished flooring and then the called deck coatings. These are the
different ranges of products available as of now in the market.
(Refer Slide Time: 04:51)

For example, epoxy flooring we have it in the name called Cipoxy SL or Cipoxy SL 1000.
(Refer Slide Time: 04:59)

The main features are the excellent adhesion, it has got excellent gloss, then self-leveling
properties, good chemical resistance, it is a food grade coating, then it is suitable for
pharmaceuticals and food processing industries and it is moisture insensitive. These are some
of the features of epoxy floorings.
(Refer Slide Time: 05:22)

The next one is the Cipothane SL, which we call it as EPU floorings. Now by the look of it,
all these floorings actually look alike. It is only the chemistry changes and there is a physical
property advantages in each of these floorings.
(Refer Slide Time: 05:38)

Like for example, this is insensitive to moisture whereas the epoxy flooring was sensitive to
moisture, the main difference if you see. It is highly flexible here whereas the epoxy floorings
are little rigid and it is not flexible. It has got a very good abrasion resistance, impact
resistance, it has got a high gloss and self-leveling properties also. And then it is a fast setting
and flexi hard material. Like when you say fast setting, during epoxy it takes about 4 to 5
hours for it the initial set whereas this epoxy polyurethane floorings will take about 2 to 3
hours. It will set as soon as you lay it.
(Refer Slide Time: 06:19)

(Refer Slide Time: 06:23)

The third one is the polyurethane floorings. Cipy is the first people to produce polyurethane
flooring in the country and this product has got a very good abrasion resistance compared to
epoxy and EPU. When you take in industrial flooring or any kind of flooring, the first
property what people look is for abrasion and this polyurethane flooring gives you a very
good abrasion. It has got an excellent chemical resistance and it has got a very good impact
resistance in comparison with the other floorings.

Now I am just going through these things first and then we will talk about what are the
properties and what are the advantages of these products.
(Refer Slide Time: 07:01)
The fourth one is the epoxy PU flooring. It is basically a physical combination of the
flooring. When I say EP-PU means it is epoxy-PU. The epoxy is the base layer, the primer
and the screed and then you give a top coating, which is a polyurethane. Now why do you do
this is epoxies by nature it has got a very good adhesion on the concrete surface. So you are
taking the benefit of an epoxy for the adhesion, which is a base. And then you are going on
top of it with the polyurethane coating, which gives you a very good abrasion resistance and
impact resistance. See you are trying to use the best of what is available in the market. So,
this is another thing which is called EP and PU floorings.
(Refer Slide Time: 07:43)

This is the epoxy self-level floor. On top of it we have given a clear coating. The color looks
the same, but here the abrasion resistance is very high because we have coated with
polyurethane. From there you may not able to see that, but on usage you will find a drastic
difference. This is epoxy self-leveling and this is the clear coated polyurethane over an epoxy
self-level.

I mean the slide also shows you a picture of how it is constructed.

(Refer Slide Time: 08:19)

The next is I think this is the fifth in the list, which is the ESD flooring. It is called
electrostatic dissipative flooring. This is used in most of the electronic industries where the
manufacturing of mobile phones or electronic equipment happening. This is actually to
dissipate whatever the eddy current which is developed on the floor.
(Refer Slide Time: 08:44)

There are 2 kinds of coatings available in ESD, one is conductive and the other one is static
dissipative and there are 2 resistivity where 2 attached to it. One conductive is to till 10 to the
power of 6 it is called conductive, anything between 10 to power of 6 to 10 to the power of 9
is static dissipative and anything above 10 to the power of 9 is insulative, which is the normal
epoxy or polyurethane floorings are.
(Refer Slide Time: 09:10)

These are some of the advantages of ESD floorings. It is durable, it has got a good conductive
level, it is low maintenance, it is easy and does not have any joints as any other ESD tiles are
there.
(Refer Slide Time: 09:29)

And the next one is the polyurethane concrete flooring. We call it Duracrete. Basically, this
material is used where the floors are really abused. When I say abused in any industrial
atmosphere, the floor is not maintained as it has to be. They drop I mean hammers, they drop
what any metal parts, the machining leaves all the burs on the floor, they roll 200 liter barrel
or anything.

So, where the abuse of the floor is very high and maintenance becomes difficult, we suggest
them to go in for a PU concrete floor. It is basically a water based system, directly you do on
the floor and leave it for about 24 hours, it is ready for you to use.
(Refer Slide Time: 10:18)

The main advantages are, it is very fast setting and very good abrasion resistance. So, you do
not need the down time I mean making this particular floor is very less because it is such very
fast and it is ready for your production activities immediately.
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The next one is a very nice system, which is called the green flooring. Everywhere we talk
about green flooring, green environment, eco-friendly floorings and all that products. So,
Cipy we also have a product, which is Cipoxy AQSF, which is a green flooring.
(Refer Slide Time: 10:54)

When we say green flooring basically it does not have any VOC content, water based, it is
water thinnable, easy to use, it is easy to apply even in a closed room. Normally, any epoxy
or polyurethane is applied on the floor in a closed room like this, it is difficult for the
applicators to do because the smell which comes out of the solvents. So, what we do this
particular system it becomes very easy for people to apply.

And during any activities also if suppose we are standing here and he can apply on that side
so it is not going to affect us because the smell is 0 actually. Also it cures very fast and it is
breathable also. When I say breathable, the concrete normally is a breathing system I mean it
sort of breathes out the moisture. Whereas when you do epoxy or a polymeric flooring, we
are actually sealing the entire system.

Sometimes there is a failure in epoxies is the only because of this moisture which is
entrapped in the concrete. So, what we give this as a solution wherever you have this
particular failure or where you looking at environmental friendly system. So, it allows the
moisture to breathe through the system itself. So, it doesn’t, there is no possibility of any
bubbles formation and it is user-friendly system, it is green flooring.
(Refer Slide Time: 12:13)
(Refer Slide Time: 12:14)

(Refer Slide Time: 12:16)

(Refer Slide Time: 12:18)

And this is a new system, which is there which is polyaspartic flooring. This polyaspartic
flooring is new to the country. It is only about probably a year in India. There is another
system called polyurea. There is polyurethane and there is polyurea. That is not used for
floorings basically, it is used for waterproofing or it is used for actually for any kind of
protective coating where it is going to be there for 20 years or 25 years and all that.

It forms about 1 mm to 2 mm thickness lining itself and it is not applied by brush, it use
specialized spray equipment by our resin and hardener mixes in the tip of the nozzle and hits
the target and it sets in about 10 seconds, 10 to 11 seconds it sets. The idea is to build the
thickness of about 1 mm you need to have multiple layers in normal epoxy or polyurethane.
Whereas in the polyurea, you do not need to do it, in one stroke you might build about 1 mm
also. So, why I am saying that that is one end of coatings and there is something called
polyurethane.

Polyaspartic is between that, it takes benefit of both polyurea and the polyurethanes. So,
where we suggest this flooring is where the abrasion resistance required is very high, but in
today’s market the cost aspect of this is slightly more. So, probably people do not really
appreciate this as of now. But in the future definitely this is going to be a product where most
of the industries will go in for.
(Refer Slide Time: 13:54)

If you read this, it is a combination of polyurea and aliphatic polyurethane, overcoming

practical difficulties of polyurea. When I say practical difficulties means it is not user-
friendly to apply polyurea. You need that particular machine, that machine cost about 20 to
25 lakhs and you need a trained applicator to do it. So , polyaspartic overcomes that particular
problem.

And at the same time it gives you good abrasion resistance and clear flooring. And these are
some features, excellent wear resistance, flexible enough to bridge concrete cracks, self-
leveling, excellent gloss, UV stability, superior chemical resistance and rapid return to
service. When I say rapid return to service is like once you do the flooring, you do not need
to wait for it to cure. It probably in another 1 or 2 hours it is ready for you to operate the
particular floor.
And then it is bubble free film, cures at low temperature during rains and then achieves
optimum properties within few hours. When this particular property, which cures in low
temperature during rain. In Chennai probably we do not feel that effect of this particular
product, but in the North in Delhi or in somewhere Himachal and all that where the
temperature comes down, the epoxy floorings do not set. There are times where people go do
your screeding, leave it for 2 days and come back just for it to set. So, whereas this particular
product it sets even in a cold climate because chemical curing is happening in this.
(Refer Slide Time: 15:33)

And that is why we call them another term, one-day flooring because these particular
products is like we recommend to people where you do not have much time for you to give it
for us to do the flooring. We say use this particular combination that is one-day flooring with
polyaspartic as the top coat. You will be able to finish it in < 1 day, < 24 hours.

Earlier we use to take minimum 72 hours to complete these kind of floorings. Nowadays
companies do not have that much time. They give us only few hours or maximum one full
day that is a Sunday. So, that is called maintenance time for them. So, this one-day flooring
has come in because of the very less time they give. We have to prepare the surface, do the
primers, create top coat, all has to happen at 8 hours to cure within the 24 hours.

So, this is the challenge we took it and Cipy has developed this product. When we say one
day we take half a day for service preparation, which is a very, very important thing and the
rest half like for example we have a primer, which will cure within 1 hour and we have a
screed which will cure within 4 hours and the top coat which will cure within 5 to 6 hours.
So, the entire process takes about 10 to 12 hours and the balance 12 hours is for curing.

So, even if we get the floor on the Sunday morning, Monday morning it is ready to use. This
is the first time in India this product is launched and very well taken in industries and nobody
else in India has this product. So, if you take epoxy people they take about 48 to 72 hours and
any flooring, any company, which we cannot afford to give that much of time, cannot do
flooring at all. So, such of those people, we recommend this kind of flooring and it has
worked very well.
(Refer Slide Time: 17:33)

This one day flooring gives you combination of benefits of epoxies, PU, and polyurea. For
example, bond strength is as good as epoxy because in any benchmark epoxy has got a very
good bond strength compared to any other property. So, this particular flooring will have the
bond strength as like an epoxy, aesthetics as like an epoxy, flexibility as like PU that is
because it gets from the polyurethane, wear resistance like polyurea coating, and crack
bridging abilities like PU.
(Refer Slide Time: 18:06)
It just gives you an idea of what is the system, there is a primer, there is a screed and then the
top coat. The primer is an epoxy primer and then you have a waterborne PU that is the middle
coat intermediate coat and then the top coat is polyaspartic.
(Refer Slide Time: 18:24)

This gives a typical work schedule for one-day flooring like morning 10 o’clock you start
your surface preparation, 10:30 you do your primer, then about 11 o’clock you can apply
your screed, the screed is ready for about 4 or 5 hours curing is enough and then at 5 o’clock
you do a top coat and then at 8 o’clock it is ready, next day morning it is ready for the facility
owner to use the floor. So, it just gives you an idea how long does it take to complete this
one-day flooring.
(Refer Slide Time: 18:56)
The next comes is something we call a densi polished flooring. It is basically on a concrete
floor, we actually use lithium silicate. We spray the lithium silicate on the floor and then buff
it for about 4 or 5 times to give sheen on the floor. What does this do is basically the liquid
floor hardener, which goes into the concrete, it is sort of blocks all the porosities of the
concrete, and it densifies the concrete, that is why they said densi polished floor. It densifies
the concrete. Once that is done, you polish the floor that is different grades of polish
available. You polish it about 4 or 5 times, you get a glossy finish on the floor.
(Refer Slide Time: 19:42)

It gives you very good sheen, its aesthetics is good, it does not have any kind of film
formation so there is no question of any film peeling off from the floor and it is sort of a
lifetime, it is going to be the same how it was in the beginning of the project.
(Refer Slide Time: 20:02)
These are some photographs, which show you how it is done. The first photograph is the
machine, which we use for the grinding, the next is the machine itself and the next
photograph is how it is being applied the densification.
(Refer Slide Time: 20:17)

So, these are 3 steps, grinding, then you have the densification hardening and then you have
the polishing.
(Refer Slide Time: 20:25)
And this is how the floor looks, you can see the sheen on the floor. It is just basic concrete
floor done with just floor art and then polished. So, there is no coating on it, there is no any
film formation on the floor, but still gives you such a good gloss on the floor.
(Refer Slide Time: 20:43)

The next one is the deck flooring and it is about 1 year old in Indian conditions because
normally epoxy or any kind of these coatings are not done in car park areas or something.
This basically is done on car park areas. The entire car park flooring, the side walls, the
ceiling and the pillars everything is done with all the markings on it.

The reason you need to do this is as the carbon actually which comes out of your cars, your
exhaust and all that it actually affects the concrete rebar’s in a long run and there are case
studies abroad where the entire structure has collapsed because of this. Basically it is an anti-
carbonation coating, which you do it on the floor and normal anti-carbonation coating does
not have the abrasion resistance, which you cannot do it on the floor. So, you need to do
something more like polyurethane or an epoxy deck flooring on the floor and then the walls
also have to be covered so that you are protecting the concrete from corrosion or erosion
because of these carbon deposits on it. This is the very, very important thing, but today it is
slowly catching up. In Mumbai, about 4 or 5 car parks they have done. In Chennai, about 1 or
2 we have done, but it has to come. This is going to be a future where I feel that people like
you should be able to recommend this as a solution to most of the building, which are coming
up in the country.
(Refer Slide Time: 22:15)

Its basically application area as I told you is car park decks, drive aisles and then ramps,
walkways, internal and exposed deck areas. And we also do all these stencil work like people
walking or you want to mark the floor with yellow line or a green line to demarcate where the
car is to be parked on the aisle ways or something.
(Refer Slide Time: 22:41)
And this the last one is actually most of the flooring done today is like it is not done on the
new surface, it is all the lot of places where it has been used for 30 years suddenly today they
want to do some kind of a covering to protect the floor. In those areas, we need to have a flat
floor to do anything on top of that. So, we use these kind of repair mortars. Basically these
are epoxy and polyurethane based. You can fill the pot holes, undulations and all that with
this particular mortar. So, it sets within about 1 or 2 hours and it is ready to do another layer
of epoxy or you can just leave it with it also as a temporary measure and you can do it later.
So, it is basically a repair mortars used for a quick filling up all the undulations and pot holes
in any industrial atmosphere.
(Refer Slide Time: 23:36)

And now we have seen about 6 or 7 kinds of different floorings. Now we just come to see the
properties of them.
(Refer Slide Time: 23:48)

For example, you go to hardness. Now we have seen all these epoxy flooring, EPU flooring,
PU flooring, EP-PU flooring and the hardness is given here. So, this is basically made to
understand these are the properties of this floors and based on this you can choose your
application.
(Refer Slide Time: 24:10)

This is abrasion resistance for all the different kinds of floorings, which we explained. For
example, if you see in this, EP-PU flooring has got about 10 to 15 mg loss. Now let me
explain about this abrasion resistance.
(Refer Slide Time: 24:39)
A sample is coated and this sample is weighed first before you would do the test. Suppose
this sample is about 100 grams and then what you do is you put the sample on that particular
machine and then put our 1 kg weight of abrasion media and rotate it for about 1000 cycles.
So, what happens is after 1000 cycles you take the sample out and again weigh it, the
difference in weight gives you loss of weight in this particular sample.

The more the weight loss the lesser abrasive resistance it is. The lesser the weight loss the
better abrasion resistance it is. So, here if you see a PU, polyurethanes are very good abrasive
resistant material compared to epoxy. Now just to give an idea, plain concrete it is about 700
mg per 1000 cycles. So, in comparison to a plain concrete to understand this, this is only 70
or 10 or 20 mg losses per 1000 cycles.

This method is called TABER abrasion method. That is the machine what you are seeing in
the side and its wheel is the CS17 wheel to abrade the sample what is shown here.
(Refer Slide Time: 25:54)
Then dust proof, every coating whatever we have seen till now is all dust proof coatings right
from your epoxy to deck coatings everything is dust proof coating. When I say dust proof,
there is not dust developed from the floor. Obviously, when dust is generated otherwise it
comes and settles that you cannot avoid, but it does not develop dust from the floor.
(Refer Slide Time: 26:13)

Chemical resistance again polyurethane concrete and the one day flooring has got a very
good chemical resistance compared to the other things. Here we asked the client to give us
the data about what are the types of chemicals used first, then the concentration. And what
works for this will not work for the other. So, we take all the data and then we give a
customized solution. So, this is the specialty of Cipy because they have all the ranges what
the world can offer, but it cannot be a one stop solution when it comes to chemical floorings.
(Refer Slide Time: 26:57)

The next one is static load resistance that is the compressive strength. Your PU flooring has
got a very good compressive strength with about 100 to 120 MPa. Densi floor does not have
any kind of coating, it just your concrete which is about 20 to 30 MPa.
(Refer Slide Time: 27:21)

(Refer Slide Time: 27:28)

Next is the impact resistance. Here we have a sample here for you to see. This sample is done
on an EPU flooring. Here you can see there is a dent here, this is actually it says here 40 lb
weight which is dropped from 40 inches height and created a dent on the coating, but the
coating is still intact. So, it shows the flexibility of this particular coating both in what you
call the positive side and in the negative side also.

So, this is like impact resistance, here it says whether it passes or fails. For example, EPU it
passes, epoxy it fails because the epoxy is a very hard material.
(Refer Slide Time: 28:12)

These are epoxy screens. When you say this is very hard so anything dropped on this, is
going to give a crack on the coating. Whereas polyurethane or an EPU is flexible so it sort of
passes the impact test.
(Refer Slide Time: 28:30)

Next is bond strength on the concrete. Most of the coatings which we saw actually pass the
adhesion test that is the bond strength. The concrete fails when you say concrete failure
means the test when you take the coating out of your concrete, it comes along with the
concrete. So, it does not come as a film actually. So, there if the bond strength is good it has
to come along with the concrete.
(Refer Slide Time: 28:58)

Slip resistance is very good in all the coatings, which we have seen so far.
(Refer Slide Time: 29:05)
And these are the business segments normally recommended what kind of flooring we can
go. For example, for automobile and automobile ancillaries EPU flooring is normally
recommended because it has got the flexibility and it has got the self-leveling property also.
So, you go for EPU flooring and it has got the good abrasion resistance and then in pharma
mostly it is epoxy and EPU is done in the utility areas. Epoxy is because you do that because
it gives a very high gloss and in pharmaceuticals that is what they want cleanliness and they
want high gloss finish and longevity of the glass also is better in epoxies. And then in food
industries you can go in for EPU, epoxy or PU concrete.
(Refer Slide Time: 29:50)

Light engineering, PU flooring or EPU flooring. Heavy industries again you can select PU or
EPU depends on what is the requirement of the client because as far the cost is concerned if
you see if suppose epoxies are 100 rupees, EPUs will be about 10% more and polyurethanes
will be another 10% more. So, it basically depends on what the client is looking at it.

EPU and PU will complement each other because most of the properties are more or less the
same except for the chemical resistance where EPU is better chemical resistance flooring. In
car packs, deck coating, deck flooring.
(Refer Slide Time: 30:34)

In aviation EPU, mostly it is EPU. Hospital and health areas, it is epoxy. In fertilizers, it is
acid resistance coatings or PU coatings.
(Refer Slide Time: 30:44)

In IT and electronic industries, ESD flooring and steel industry it is polyurethane flooring and
in warehousing we recommend densi flooring, which is the floor hardener, which you use and
then you polish the floor because in warehousing probably they won’t be able to maintain it
well. So, it is usually abuse of the floor is more than the usage of the floor.
(Refer Slide Time: 31:13)

In textile, it is again textile it is PU or EPU I mean we have just selected it and we will come
back how we select on this.
(Refer Slide Time: 31:23)

In dairies and commercial building, it is Terrafloor or Floorhand.

(Refer Slide Time: 31:36)
This is Terrazzo floor and the thickness ranges from about 6 to 12 mm and it is very hard and
durable like we can give even a lifetime warranty for this and we can give any color, the
architect can give any wildest imagination you can give, we can embed glass beats on this, in
night also it will be a very glossy finish.

Anything can be done, but it is very costly, its range starts from about 4000 rupees per square
meter to about 20,000 rupees per square meter. But it is a lifetime product and you need not
do anything more than this and it is a product. This is well accepted abroad, but because the
cost reasons in India only few takers are there.
(Refer Slide Time: 32:51)

These are some of places where we have done these toppings..

(Refer Slide Time: 33:12)
These are the automobile sectors these are some of the areas where we have done our
floorings
(Refer Slide Time: 33:17)

In engineering industries, these are some of the areas we have done our floorings.
(Refer Slide Time: 33:30)
These are in pharmaceutical industries.
(Refer Slide Time: 33:40)

(Refer Slide Time: 33:47)

And these are some government institutions where we have done, in BHEL, nuclear power
corporation, HAL and ordnance factory etc.
(Refer Slide Time: 34:05)

And this shows the execution capability of our company like what the best we have done in
the shortest time. We have done more than 75,000 square feet in 72 hours that is in Toyota
Bangalore, more than 1 lakh square feet in about 55 hours that is in Mahindra and in
Volkswagen we have done about more than 7 lakhs square feet in about 25 days.
(Refer Slide Time: 34:35)
And these are some of the photographs of different floorings whatever we spoke about.
(Refer Slide Time: 34:37)

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(Refer Slide Time: 34:48)

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(Refer Slide Time: 35:12)

Just want to finish off with some more commercial products.

(Refer Slide Time: 35:25)
This is called DecoFlake where we can add some flakes got colors, this comes under
commercial flooring and it can be used for your pantry areas and any side where the architect
specifies for a different kind of a look and things like that and we can have n number of
colors and combinations.
(Refer Slide Time: 35:51)

So, this is one such DecoFlake, we got a black and white pigments.
(Refer Slide Time: 35:56)
And similarly this has got a blue and white. We can have densely arranged blue or light, that
depends upon the customer’s choice.
(Refer Slide Time: 36:12)

This is the special flooring. It is called phosphorescent flooring wherein it will absorb light in
the morning and emit in the evenings. The advantage goes for mostly safety when you can
draw your lines. Suppose suddenly there is a power failure, this will emit light and you know
where to walk or it will lead you to the exit place. So, this is a revolutionary product.
(Refer Slide Time: 36:40)
This is a chemical coating. It is clear coating on the surface. It is called EPN 100. It is an
novolac epoxy and we can recommend for any harsh chemicals be it an acid or alkali, it really
works well. And on typically laid epoxy or polyurethane floor, it is a clear coating which
comes with 500 micron to 1 mm thick and once this is done it takes care of any kind of
chemical, which falls on this.
(Refer Slide Time: 37:19)

So, this is an epoxy screed (white) as he earlier told you and this is the polyurethane screed
(brown). Differences are, if you hammer this (epoxy screed), it tends to break, but if you
hammer this (polyurethane screed) nothing will happen. It will rebound, but the strength is as
good as this. So, this is the polyurethane based and epoxy based.
(Refer Slide Time: 37:41)
So, he was talking about 3 layers, this is the primary layer, this is the screed could be an
epoxy, polyurethane screed, again the primer can be epoxy primer or polyurethane primer
and this top coating is self-leveling epoxy top coat could be polyurethane, it can be
polyaspartic anything. So, basically it consists of primer, screed and a top coat.
(Refer Slide Time: 38:13)

And this is a typical car park flooring. It will have some roughness because it is done on the
exterior area and any oil spillages from the car, we should not slip and fall. We do a similar
floorings for many of the industries where oil comes out of the machines when people walk,
they tend to skid and fall. So, in industries we call this anti-skid flooring and many of the
engineering shops and maybe Hyundai or Daimler, we recommend this kind of flooring
because this takes care of the safety aspects.
(Refer Slide Time: 38:58)
And this is also a type of terrazzo flooring. We can give various colors.
(Refer Slide Time: 39:09)

This is our sealant, polyurethane sealant we can say like on the joints of any concrete we laid
and normally we can give various colors also. So, suppose we do green color flooring this
side we can give a green color sealant. So, it will match so you will not notice that sealant is
done here.

“Professor - student conversation starts.” If any questions there you can.

Q: I would like to thank Mr. Suresh Kumar and Mr. Saravanabhava of Swathi
Engineering for a very nice talk. We could understand the differences between the
different polymers used in flooring. I would like to ask you where would you use
polymer flooring. Generally, we are used to tile flooring. What are the advantages with
respect to tiles?

A: Polymeric flooring is basically used in places where you need abrasion resistance, where
your usage of the floor is going to be very harsh like industrial environment and that is where
we do not want a tile to be used because it might crack and there are lot of joints in tiles
where lot of industries do not want joints in the tiles because dirt accumulation, oil seepages
might happen.

So, polymeric floorings will give you joint less flooring, absolutely no joints in between, it is
monolithic and it has got a very good abrasion resistance and impact resistance. So, you tend
to go for polymeric flooring in areas where the abuse is more and in industrial environment
mostly they go for this particular flooring than tiles.

For example, if you take forklift movements. If it comes across the joint, it will tend to break
the tile whereas if it is a seamless flooring like epoxy or polyurethane, the friction is very less
and it keeps moving fast and there is no chance of breaking. Hence tiles are not suited for
industries and that is the reason we use lot of epoxies and polyurethane for industries.

Q: Is there some type of environment where you cannot use polymer flooring?

A: I do not think so. In any place you can use it. It is not that you cannot use it. It is only how
we apply and how we make use of it I think. You can use in any environment.

Q: And in terms of polyurethane flooring, we see that it is becoming more and more
popular, what is the difference between the coating when you have an interior
application and when you have an exterior application where you can have heat and
water and so on?

A: See polyurethane there are 2 kinds of polyurethanes, one is aromatic polyurethane and the
other one is called aliphatic polyurethane. The aromatic polyurethanes are the ones, which are
used in a place where there is no sunlight directly on it, it is inside the room or something like
that. Whereas when you want to use it on exterior surface you can use aliphatic polyurethane
which gives the UV resistance also. So, basic difference is that when you choose something
for external, you choose an aliphatic and when you wanted anywhere inside you choose an
aromatic systems that is it.

Q: You were discussing that some flooring are self-leveling? What is the meaning of the
term self-leveling?

A: See when you see normal coatings when you do it on the wall or with the brush or
something, they are actually a thin film, which they form might be about 50 to 100 microns
and it is done with the roller or something. When you see epoxies self-leveling, it is not done
with rollers. It is basically very viscous material and it has got a tendency to flow itself and
level itself like for example the best self-leveling material you can see is water. It sort of
whichever shape the container is and that kind of system only we are replicating in an epoxy
self-leveling system basically making it leveled by itself, on the top surface is getting leveled
immaterial of what is the bottom. So, it takes datum and then levels the top that is called self-
leveling coating.

Q: Sir when you were discussing about densify concrete flooring that is polished
concrete surface flooring. In that place, we do not want roughness in that surface, but in
case of polishing the slippery effect will be there.

A: See we have in a concrete surface when you actually densify the concrete you are actually
blocking all the porosities in the concrete. Once any surface porosities are filled and then you
try to sort of buff it, it gives you sheen. If the sheen is basically so that it does not allow water
or anything to go into it, but when you walk over it with the barefoot or with the shoe, it does
not slip at all and we have done it in n number of places and we have even tested with the
forklifts making it even with by pouring water or oil and then running the forklift on top of it
and breaking it. It gives a very good result. So it is not a slippery floor at all.

For example, we have done the same floor polished densi floors in Daimler for 1 lakh square
meters. So, it is a huge area you are talking about, 10 lakhs square feet so nothing has
happened, till date we have not got any issues on safety, it is a good question.

“Professor - student conversation ends.” Thank you for this opportunity.