Covestro will enhance its support for coating and adhesive manufacturers. The company announced plans to open a specialized, automated laboratory in 2025. This new facility will optimize coating and adhesive formulations.

The industry faces demands for market share gains. Manufacturers must also rapidly optimize products. Efficiency is key. Sustainability and regulatory compliance are crucial. Products increasingly need circularity. This must not compromise coating or adhesive properties.

Binders and crosslinkers are vital. Covestro, a leading material manufacturer, develops these. The automated laboratory will address industry needs. It will enable more efficient and precise formulation work.

“With our automated laboratory, we can collaborate with our customers on the future of coatings and adhesives,” stated Thomas Büsgen. He heads the laboratory at Covestro. “Operating almost autonomously, it learns from our existing knowledge and data. Newly generated data also contributes. This significantly improves the efficiency and precision of optimizing and developing formulations. We can accelerate the optimization of current formulations. We can also jointly develop entirely new formulations with our customers. This marks a new level in modern research at Covestro.”

The laboratory will test formulations. These will feature Covestro’s binders and crosslinkers. These components ensure essential properties. Hardness, adhesion, opacity, gloss, and durability are examples. Typical formulations contain seven to 15 components. Their combination dictates the final product's characteristics. The new lab allows more extensive testing. Computer-aided design aids test series. Automation is also a key feature.

Martin Merkens is Head of Sales & Market Development EMLA at Covestro. He noted the new lab offers expanded testing capabilities. “Our new automated laboratory provides more possibilities for testing formulations,” Merkens said. “It will handle standard tasks for our specialized labs. This allows our experts to focus more on customer-specific needs. We can also explore innovative approaches.”

Merkens highlighted the benefits for the circular economy. “This will particularly aid our work with circular economy principles. We can test alternative raw materials, such as bio-based or recycled content, more quickly. We can then evaluate their performance in the final application.”

The facility will operate continuously. Covestro aims for tens of thousands of tests annually. This sets a new benchmark for testing volume and speed. The automated lab will generate substantial structured data. This will rapidly expand Covestro’s formulation knowledge. Machine learning algorithms will analyze this data, along with existing study data. This will further refine formulations. Artificial intelligence will also predict new experiments. It will verify these in the automated lab, creating a self-learning system.

The lab will handle water- and solvent-based 1K and 2K systems. It will also conduct material tests on raw materials, formulations, and applied films. Application testing in various climates will simulate real-world use. Enhanced laboratory digitalization across Covestro will streamline sample forwarding to specialized testing facilities. This will enable the integration of market-specific results. Relevant dependencies can then be identified more quickly.

Covestro will present these advancements at the European Coatings Show 2025 in Nuremberg. Experts will discuss the new laboratory’s capabilities with customers. The event takes place from March 25-27. Covestro’s booth will be in Hall 4A, Stand 438. Attendees can learn more about the automated lab. They can also discover other innovative material solutions from Covestro. Technical developments for the coatings and adhesives industry will also be highlighted.