Surfactants Market Update
Sufactants manufacturers have developed products
that offer compatibility, performance and economic advantages.
BY KERRY PIANOFORTE
ASSOCIATE EDITOR
Surfactants play several key roles
in the manufacture, storage,
application and curing of all types
of paint and coatings. “Wetting and dispersing agents are essential in improving the color strength and stability of
pigment concentrates and coatings,” said
Shelley Parkerson, market development
manager, OMG Americas, Inc. “Flow and
leveling agents are essential in aiding
the flow of high performance coatings to
give a superior appearance. Surfactants
to help with air release of the coatings
are essential for high solids and waterborne coatings.”
At a minimum, a surfactant should
enable a water-based formulation to better wet out the desired substrate, according to Ingrid Meier, technology manager,
specialty additives, Air Products. “A surfactant is critical to being able to apply
water-based coatings on hydrophobic
substrates like plastic or very porous
substrates like wood,” she said. “Often
times, surfactants are used as dispersants for pigments and fillers or as emulsifiers in the formulation. Certain surfactants are also capable of improving
the flow and leveling of a coating, which
will dramatically improve the surface
appearance of the finished coating. When
coatings need to be applied under
dynamic conditions like spray, a surfactant that can provide dynamic surface
tension reduction will be required to
achieve the desired results.”
Surfactants are key additions to
waterborne coatings formulations.
“They are used as binder emulsifiers
and as pigment dispersants,” said Caio
Sedeno, global product director Dow
Polyglycol & Surfactants. “Surfactants
are also needed to improve wetting on
low energy substrates, to modify rheology during application and processing,
improve freeze/thaw stability and prevent film defects caused by surface
tension gradients.”
When it comes to the paint and coatings market green technology is the
current hot buzzword, but in reality it
takes more than a green label to make
a product environmentally friendly.
“In paint and coatings what we consistently see is more emphasis on performance and economy, rather than any specific push for greener chemistry,” said
Sedeno. “Formulators continue to emphasize reducing VOC content, ingredients that have better toxicity profiles
and improved handling properties.”
Dow’s Ecosurf SA surfactant (launched
late 2007) is based on a natural
hydrophobe; both Ecosurf SA and
Ecosurf EH are readily biodegradable.
“The aquatic toxicity for Ecosurf EH surfactants is better than many other conventional ethoxylates,” Sedeno added.
OMGhas designed its new 100%
active wetting and dispersing agents to
be compatible with solventborne, waterborne and high solids coatings. “As a
result, the coatings producer can formulate universal pigment concentrates,”
said Parkerson. “Many of our flow and
leveling agents, and air release agents,
are 100% active and contribute no
VOCs to the final coating. Many are
