COATING SYSTEM

Curable compositions comprising a) an epoxy resin containing on average more than one epoxy group per molecule, and b) as curing agent a hybrid hardener, whereby the said hardener is a blend of an amine selected from aliphatic, cycloaliphatic, araliphatic amines or imidazoline group-containing amidoamines based on mono-or polybasic acids or their adducts made from glycidyl compounds, which contain, on average, more than two reactive active hydrogens bound to amino nitrogen atoms per molecule, and a polyphenol (novolac) of the general formula (I) or a copolymer of different alkyl phenol units, wherein in formula (I) R 1 , R 2 , R 3 , R 4 , are each independently of one another H, branched or unbranched alkyl radicals containing 1 to 15 carbon atoms, n is 1 to 15, and wherein the novolacs of formula (I) are used in amounts of at least 30% by weight, based on total hardener blend composed by the amine or imidazoline group-containing amidoamine or their adducts made from glycidyl compounds and the phenolic resin, providing rapid setting protective coatings for adhesives and coatings in application fields civil engineering, marine, architectural and maintenance.