Introduction

InChem Corp is a global specialty resin and surfactant manufacturer. Many of our resins have been used to enhance performance in coatings, inks, adhesives, and composites for over 35 years and they continue to offer unique chemistries to ever-changing performance standards.

Our headquarters and ISO 9002 certified facility in Rock Hill, South Carolina service customers worldwide along with additional production facilities in Europe. InChem surfactant facilities are located in Portugal, France, and South Africa.

Our product range includes phenoxy resin and it’s derrivatives, along with several new chemistries such as Vinyl Ester, UV acrylates and phenolics. Our high performance resins enhance the properties of coatings, adhesives, inks, composites, fibers an plastics

InChemRez® Phenoxy resins are tough and ductile thermoplastic materials having high cohesive strength and good impact resistance. The backbone ether linkages and pendant hydroxyl groups promote wetting and bonding to polar substrates and fillers. Structurally, Phenoxy resin is a polyhydroxyether having terminal alpha-glycol groups.  Weight-average molecular weight range from approximately 25,000 to above 60,000.  The highest polymeric species exceed 250,000 daltons.

Polydispersity is very narrow, typically less than 4.0.  An average molecule contains forty or more regularly spaced hydroxyl groups suitable for crosslinking for thermoset applications. These pendant hydroxyls are excellent sites for crosslinking in thermoset applications at elevated temperatures and even at ambient conditions.

Phenoxy resins are compatible with many polymers and they are efficient flexibilizers for crosslinked phenolic and epoxy formulations in adhesives, coatings, and composites.  Phenoxy resins have shown utility in compatibilizing blends of diverse plastic materials.  Phenoxy resin has a solubility parameter of 10.68 enabling excellent compatibility with polar materials and sufaces like polyurethanes, polyesters, and nylons. Generally, the resin is incompatible with acrylics, olefins, and vinyls. Phenoxy has excellent vapor barrier properies (water vapor, oxygen, carbon dioxide) and is compliant with 21CFR175.300 for direct and indirect food/beverage container coatings, as well as other paragraphs pertinent to adhesives used in multilayer packaging and plastic components for containers.

InChemRez® resins of Phenoxy type resins combined with epoxies, polyethers, and polyesters provide user friendly hybrids for formulation latitude and novel properties.

Modification of the Phenoxy resin backbone by grafting onto the aliphatic carbon segments generates the family of anionically stabilized waterborne dispersions. These grades of Phenoxy (PKHW-series) allow formulators significant latitude in designing VOC compliant coatings and adhesives. Several are also FDA-compliant for use in packaging and container coatings (direct and indirect food contact).

Modification by esterification of the backbone hydroxyls generates a new family of high molecular weight resins having pendant primary hydroxyls, vastly improved compatibility with ester-type solvents, and improved elasticity. Products of this type are in the PKCP-series. These resins are not FDA-compliant however.

Phenoxy resins are soluble in a variety of materials including ketones, glycol ethers and glycol ether esters.  Phenoxy resins prefer polar aprotic solvents, however many aliphatic and aromatic materials will behave as diluents in conjunction with strong solvents as above.  Detailed solids/viscosity charts are illustrated in this guide for numerous solvents and solvent combinations with different grades of Phenoxy.

Standard solutions of Phenoxy resin in methyl ethyl ketone and in PM acetate are commercially available from InChem Corp.  InChem Corp. will consider alternate solvents for customer specific needs based on fit, volume, etc.