Modulating film-forming and open-time with additives. A quantitative approach for complexity reduction in wb systems

 
Sustainability is the most important theme in the chemical industry. A lot of progress has been made in the coatings industry in reducing VOC emissions and shift towards low-VOC solutions. water-borne technologies have benefited a lot but unlike solventborne formulations they provide new challenges. One challenge is increased formulation complexity caused by aqueous environments. To match solvent-type performance parameters with wb systems it is crucial to understand the interplay of different ingredients thereby aiming to reduce complexity. Several ways exist to address this issue with high-throughput screening (HTS) and digital solutions like artificial intelligence being the most prominent ones. Areas where HTS and digital tools can help the most is the correlation of drying behavior, open-time and film-forming in relation to parameters like viscosity. Here, we quantitatively determined the dependency of open-time, film forming behaviour and drying time in relation to parameters like viscosity. Based on the results an algorithm has been developed that allows to select for additives to customize and adjust these performance parameters in wb paint formulations.