Rheology and stability studies of colloidal MCC stabilised waterborne formulations

 
The research described in this paper studied a bio-based stabilizer, Colloidal Microcrystalline cellulose (cMCC), which contains mostly natural Microcrystalline cellulose (MCC). Rheology studies showed that the water dispersion of cMCC is very shear thinning. Its water dispersion had a nice thixotropic behavior. When added into a concentrated TiO2 dispersion (76% TiO2), 0.15% cMCC made significantly improve to the original commercial TiO2 dispersion and prevented hard caking. TurbiScan stability index was significantly reduced during a 7-day study. cMCC has excellent compatibility with other rheology modifiers or formulation components. Comparing to organic clay rheology modifiers, it significantly improved poorly-stabilized formulations with limited impact on viscosity. cMCC prevented color floating and provided much better in-can stability for the coating formulations. Data also showed that cMCC can reduce the use level of other rheology modifiers, therefore, optimizing the rheological profile with no or very limited cost impact.