Floor finishes in the past have used solvent based and water based Acrylics or Polyurethanes.

Historically the advantages of acrylic finishes being:

1. Easily strippable
2. Ease of application
3. Ease of maintenance
4. Price

Disadvantages of acrylics being:

1. Low durability
2. Maintenance costs

Acrylics for this reason have been used largely as floor polishes, decking seals and concrete seals.

Polyurethanes have been used predominantly in the wood floor industry because of it’s:

1. Hardness
2. Durability
3. Reduced maintenance

Disadvantages of Urethanes being:

1. Cost
2. Difficulties in reparability
3. Scratches due to hardness

Hybrid Technology is a technology where acrylics and urethanes are cooked together at the chemical bonding stage. Polyurethanes and Acrylics are used together in a waterborne solution to gain the benefits and advantages of both technologies without the disadvantages. Nano Particle technology floor finishes have much smaller particles and therefore smaller bonds than conventional floor finishes. Through using Nano technology in floor finishes the bonds created between the substrate and finish is made deeper in the floor and the bonds created are much stronger.

A Nano Hybrid technology floor polish has the hardness of a Urethane but can be stripped as a conventional floor polish would be. In the example of wood floors this technology retains the durability of polyurethane but can flex and wont crack like standard floor finishes.

This technology can be used over the whole range of substrates in flooring, including, decking, concrete, wood floors and vinyl. This technology provides unique advantages that standard floor finishes cannot.

For a contractor this means a number of advantages depending on the substrate, for example less labour spent on recoating, less cases of edge bonding or unique bonding over damaged or problem floors.

Hybrid technology is the next step in floor finish technology and Peerless JAL is very excited to share this with the industry.