Interview: Strong film formation is critical
Latoska N. Price, regional technical service manager coatings for Americas at Synthomer gives and overview of the limitations and advancements in water-borne coatings.
What would you say are some of the limitations of water-borne coatings?
Latoska N. Price: Overall, microbial stability is a challenge due to changing regulations for biocides both in the United States and abroad. Dirt pick-up resistance, surfactant leaching, and colour stability improvements are a focus for exterior applications, while for interior decorative, there is a need for better stain and burnish resistance. Especially with the pandemic and the need for sanitisation, strong film formation is critical to allow cleaning ability without colour rub-off or fade. Overall, we are excited by future advancements in water-borne technology making them more robust, and to rival the solvent-based performance that many industries demand.
Event tip: besides waterbased coatings, the focus topic of our EC conference on 22 and 23 November will be bio-based coatings. You can find the agenda online.
Which binders are most suitable for waterborne formulations?
Price: Acrylic latex chemistry is incredibly versatile. Additionally, they are easy to work with and they offer UV stability. In a fully formulated coating, they can even help extend service life of the substrate they are protecting. With new polymer advancements, acrylic-hybrids are becoming more popular as the performance of two unique polymers are combined while still delivering the safe, low-VOC properties needed to meet regulatory restrictions. In our view, it is most important to identify the critical desired performance proper- ties, and then work in collaboration with your team of supplier partners (polymers and additives) to bring about the technical results you want.
Can water-borne systems achieve the same performance or even better properties as compared to solvent-borne coatings?
Price: It is unlikely; solvent-borne materials fulfil a critical need where extreme performance is required to meet industrial, commercial, and architectural specifications. Solvent-based coatings provide functional safety and protective importance in intumescent, industrial, transportation, and many metal applications. The question for us is, what can be done to make solvent-borne paints more user friendly? We are invigorated by how R&D and sustainability teams are incorporating ‘greener thinking’ into polymer design without sacrificing performance while formulators, industrial applicators, and contractors march toward safer application practices.
