ITASCA, IL — NAGASE Specialty Materials NA LLC (NSM) announced a partnership with ASAHI KASEI as the authorized distributor for Duranate™ isocyanates for polymerization and cross-linking of high weatherability polyurethanes. NSM’s Technical Account Managers will serve customers in Arkansas, Colorado, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Michigan, Minnesota, Mississippi, Missouri, Nebraska, New Mexico, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas and Wisconsin.

Duranate is Asahi Kasei’s line of hexamethylene diisocyanate (HDI)-based polyisocyanate curing agents. Duranate is offered as several types: biuret, trimer with low and extra-low viscosity, multi-functional with fast drying characteristics, blocked with low-temperature curing, and adduct, which offer high flexibility. Duranate provides excellent weatherability and color retention, good chemical and abrasion resistance, as well as good compatibility and drying properties. Suitable applications are coatings for automotive, architectural, industrial and consumer electronics products, adhesives, gravure, offset and screen inks. Duranate low-viscosity grades are suitable for polyaspartic coatings that enable fast drying and zero or low VOCs.

“NAGASE Group has had a historically deep relationship with Asahi Kasei for Duranate sales and marketing in Japan and Asian countries. We know well that Asahi Kasei is an excellent and trustworthy company. We are so excited to have a new partnership with Asahi Kasei here in North America and to provide their innovative products and technologies to our customers,” said Toshio Kondo, Director of Asian Business Development.

“We are very pleased to announce this new partnership. Nagase Specialty Materials has great sales and marketing resources, supported by its excellent professionals in the coating industry. We are delighted that this partnership will enable exceptional service with Duranate’s remarkable technology as an environmentally friendly product to customers,” said Toshio Yamasaki, General Manager of Duranate Sales and Marketing, Asahi Kasei, Japan.