What Does
Curing Agent Mean?
A curing agent is a substance that assists in the setting and hardening of a surface by facilitating the bonding of the molecular components of the material.
There are three types of curing agent:
- Agents that react with the surface upon which they are applied.
- Catalytic agents that do not react with the material surface.
- Initiator agents that only begin the hardening reactions but do not continue to react with the system.
Cured-in-place-pipe (CIPP) and the fold-and-form liner methods are trenchless rehabilitation method that utilizes curing agents in order to set the liner within the host pipe.
Trenchlesspedia Explains Curing Agent
The most favored method of pipe rehabilitation is CIPP which involves the use of a resin-soaked liner that is inverted and inserted into the affected pipeline after the pipeline is cleaned and inspected. Once placed within the pipe the liner is expanded using compressed air or steam and allowed to fill the pipe. Heat is applied to the liner to accelerate the curing process.
Epoxy resins are widely used in CIPP applications. They form a thermoset polymer through catalytic photopolymerization or by forming a heteropolymer by co-reacting through their functional epoxide groups with the curing agents. The curing agent becomes chemically bound in the heteropolymer epoxy reaction. The same resin, when combined with different curing agents, will have different properties.