Silicone free developments in low foaming non ionic wetting agents for aqueous coatings

 
Wetting Agents play a critical role during production of waterborne coatings, they assist in the grind stage by improving the dispersion of pigments allowing a shortening of the grind time. During application wetting agents make it possible to apply waterborne coatings to low energy surfaces. Anionic wetting agents can have excellent dynamic surface tension control, but often display foaminess in grind and when applied. Low foaming nonionic wetting agents have found value in industrial coatings where microfoam cannot be tolerated, however they do not typically provide adequate surface tension control. This presentation will show how our recent advances in silicon-free nonionic wetting agent technology are now providing industrial and architectural waterborne coatings with low dynamic and equilibrium surface tension. The wetting agent can be added at any point of the paint manufacturing process without generating foam and dispersion issues, eliminating microfoam and undispersed pigment particles in the finished coating.