Low Temperature Cure Epoxy - You No Longer Need an Accelerator For Cold Weather Painting

Many steel fabricators and industrial paintingThe use of a low temperature epoxy without an
operations are not aware of some of the recentaccelerator can eliminate or slow this problem.
changes in epoxy technology. In the past, when you3) By using an accelerator, you are adding an
were painting in cold weather with an epoxy youadditional step in the painting or coating process that
needed to add an accelerator to the material in ordercan be messed up. For instance, your mixture of the
to get the product to cure (or dry) in a reasonableaccelerator could be incorrect resulting in a coating
time. This is no longer necessary, because there areproblem/failure. The simpler you can keep the
now low-temperature cure epoxies from paintsystem, the less likely possible problems will occur.
manufacturers on the market which do not requireSome of these epoxies can now cure all the way
an accelerator.down to 0°F without any use of an accelerator.
Here are several reasons why switching to aOthers can dry as quickly as 90 minutes to the touch
non-accelerated low temperature epoxy is good forwith surface temperatures at 20°F. You will to
your business:contact your paint manufacturer to see what they
1) Accelerators can add a significant cost on a perhave available and to cross-reference an epoxy that
gallon basis; Having an epoxy coating that does notwill be close in overall performance to what you are
need an accelerator could reduce your per gallon costcurrently using. Don't delay on making this switch, as
greatly.it could eliminate potential problems and reduce your
2) Accelerators usually weaken the coating byoverall costs greatly.
making it more brittle and causing it to yellow faster;