TIB KAT 724

TIB KAT 724 – Bismuth neodecanoate for polyurethane applications

TIB KAT 724 is one of the most commonly used metal-based specialty catalysts for polyurethanes. Due to its long history of use, it serves as a benchmark catalyst for new PU formulations and as a low-toxicity alternative to organotin compounds such as DBTL. It is suitable for automotive, industrial, and refinish systems, as well as a catalyst for PU prepolymers and elastomer formulations. An excess of free neodecanoic acid ensures controlled viscosity.

TIB KAT 724 offers good overall reactivity. In PU elastomers and foams, the low metal content combined with a large ligand enables balanced front-end/pot life and back-end/final cure reactivity. In coatings, the final cure is particularly improved by additional or exothermically generated heat.

Typical for bismuth carboxylates, TIB KAT 724 catalyzes most polyurethane reactions and exhibits a reactivity similar to tin-based catalysts – selective towards polyol-isocyanate and water-isocyanate reactions. The product is hydrolytically stable under normal humidity conditions, but loses this stability as humidity increases, as is generally the case with bismuth carboxylates.

The typical application amount is 0.01–0.1 wt%. TIB KAT 724 has a higher activity than TIB KAT 720 (bismuth octoate) at the same metal content and offers improved storage and color stability. The catalyst is soluble in common PU solvents or can be incorporated directly or mixed with alcohols; checking the solution stability is recommended.

Other variants of the bismuth neodecanoate series:

• TIB KAT 716: lower bismuth content
• TIB KAT 716 LA: lower bismuth content + reduced free acid
• TIB KAT 710: reduced viscosity