A client turned to ChemQuest Technology Institute to modify existing products in order to impart different properties, enabling expansion into new applications and markets.
The Challenge
A manufacturer of structural epoxy materials used to rehabilitate old infrastructure was seeking to expand into new markets.
Their team had made efforts to introduce an existing product for a new and different application, but they were experiencing challenges because their product was failing in flexural creep resistance tests. They reached out to ChemQuest Technology Institute (CQTI) to identify ways to improve the product’s mechanical properties with minimal formula modifications.
Proving Out Potential Solutions
The scientists at CQTI worked to develop and prove out potential solutions that would have minimal impact on the existing formula.
Develop Potential
Solutions
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- First analyzed the current formula and test data to generate the root cause of low flexural creep performance
- Then proposed a minimal modification to the existing formula that would potentially solve the problem
Prove Out
Ultimate Solution
- Recreated the modified formula and the original formula in our lab
- Designed and fabricated a new apparatus for testing flexural creep performance in an accelerated fashion
The Results
The CQTI team proved that the solution we developed and tested in our lab dramatically improved the product’s flexural creep performance, and the client was able to easily make the changes to the formulation.
Our formulation guidance allowed the client to expand its business by effectively meeting the needs of a new market application.