
What makes a floor finish more wear resistant than another? Very often the hardness of a finish is confused with the wear resistance, but these are 2 different things. A harder finish does not mean it is necessarily more wear resistant. For example, when comparing solvent-based finishes, a 2 pack finish whilst harder, does not have the wear resistance of a single pack moisture-cured finish. Even the method of measuring wear resistance can be misunderstood. The most common test method is by using a Taber Abraser machine, but numerous testing standards exist and this is where the confusion begins.
Of the different Taber Abraser testing standards, the grit feeder method(SIS 923509) provides the most realistic prediction of the performance of a floor finish. The reason is because this test best simulates 'real life' wear and tear.
Lower the mg/100revs the harder the surface and more resistant to wear.
Bona Traffic
2.5mg/100revs
Typical single pack moisture cured polyurethane
3mg/100revs
Synteko Best
3.1mg/100revs
Synteko Extra
4mg/100revs
Bona Mega
4.5mg/100revs
Nanosol Classic
4.7mg/100revs
Typical 2 pack polyurethane
5mg/100revs
Typical Oil modified/Tung oil finish
7.5mg/100revs
Synteko Classic(Acid curing)
8mg/100revs
Ref Bona X
As you can see, surface finish rank high in wear resistance while penetrating oils rank low in wear resistant. This is quite expected as natural oils does not create a surface layer which takes the brunt of the wear.
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Wishing you all the best with your project!