Optimisation of blocking performance of trim paint formulations using modeling and predictive tools

 
Due to the trend towards lower VOC coatings, typically achieved using lower Tg binders, balancing film hardness and resistance properties in trim paints, including blocking, poses challenges to formulators. A study was designed covering a broad formulation space where commonly used formulation ingredients were considered with the objective of deriving empirical performance models to optimize the performance balance. The ingredients and parameters considered were binder composition and design, dispersant hydrophobicity, surfactant type, coalescent volatility, and titanium dioxide surface treatment. Additionally, the impact of formulation PVC was evaluated. The formulation modelling covers over three thousand raw material combinations in approximately one hundred paint formulations using an I-optimal design of experiment by assuming a formulation-performance relationship that contains main effects, two-way interactions, and quadratic effects of the input variables. Data transformation, followed by generalized linear regression, were conducted to train the empirical performance models which were able to predict performance, including block resistance, across the formulation space.