High-throughput and design of experiment optimization of polymers and paints

 
The use of High Throughput Experimentation (HTE) and or statistical Design of Experiments (DoE) can be used to develop new binders or paints with an important reduction of time-to-market, chance of success and cost savings1). Important advantage of HTE is the opportunity to investigate - within acceptable time frames - complicated sets of parameters either in the synthesis of polymeric binders or the preparation and evaluation of paints. Another remarkable advantage of DoE is the handling of large sets of data in a simplified and statistical manner2). These large sets of results can be generated from HTE experiments. Over the last 10 years Nuplex has built up experience with both HTE as well as DoE. Especially the combination of these two tools has proved to be beneficial3). The first part discusses a recently developed Dispersing Binder with carboxyl functional acrylic block copolymer (DBC-1) which has shown excellent performance for enhancing among others the stain resistance against wood ingredients in waterborne white top coats4). However, there was a need for understanding the role and the interaction of this DBC-1 in a formulated paint, in order to maximize its performance and optimize paint properties in the most comprehensive and efficient manner. The work presents two parallel performed investigations at Nuplex R&D laboratories and at Van Loon Chemical Innovations (VLCI) carrying out exactly the same DoE setup and paint evaluations but using two completely different HTE workflow's3). The statistical analysis of both sets of results was compared as well as the robustness and reliability of both HTE workflow's. Attention is paid to cost and time savings: it concerns both efficiency and effectiveness. The second part discusses another combined HTE/DoE investigation where the workflow is extended to DoE set up's for polymer synthesis as well as the subsequent paint formulation, application and testing.