Coatings World - June 2011

Dow Puts Hiding Technology in Plain View

After launching a new hiding technology for paints and coatings, Dow Coating Materials (DCM) called upon volunteers and donated 1,000 gallons of paint to help the city of Philadelphia hide graffiti, paint curbs and refresh fences at various city recreation centers. The daylong painting project took place on Saturday, April 2, in conjunction with Philadelphia’s annual Philly Spring Cleanup and Keep America Beautiful Great American Cleanup campaign.

Much of the high-hiding exterior paint was used to cover graffiti-filled walls and make room for new artwork through Philadelphia’s Mural Arts Program, a grass roots organization that has produced over 3,000 exterior murals in Philadelphia since its founding in 1984.

“Through Dow’s participation in the Great American Cleanup and the Mural Arts Program, we’re not only cleaning up our neighborhood streets, we’re also creating a new canvas for tomorrow’s artists,” said Joan Schuller, general manager, DCM North America, speaking at the April 2 event.

In addition to several hundred volunteers, Schuller was joined by Debbie Zimmer, director of the Paint Quality Institute; John Calderaio, manager of DCM’s Paint Exposure Testing Station; Philadelphia Mayor Michael A. Nutter; and reigning Miss America Teresa Scanlan to paint over graffiti on the exterior walls of Philadelphia’s C.B. Moore Recreation Center and create a base for the new mural.

“At Dow, we know paint and we know that any paint proj-
ect, whether it’s on exterior concrete or interior drywall, has to
include effective hiding,” said Schuller. “In fact, Dow Coating
Materials has been working to improve the science of hiding in
paints for almost 50 years, and the technology in the paint we’re
using today is a Delaware Valley innovation.”
Originally located in Newtown, PA, and later moved to
Spring House, PA, Dow’s paint and coatings research farm has
operated continuously since 1953. Scientists there developed
Ropaque Opaque Polymers, an alternative light scattering pig-
ment for supplementing the hiding performance of TiO2. In
March, DCM unveiled three new hiding technologies also in-
vented at Spring House: Evoque Pre-Composite Polymer Tech-
nology, Ropaque Dual Opaque Polymers and Fastrack HE-2706
Acrylic Binders.

Dow Coating Materials donated 1,000 gallons of high-hiding paint to cover Philadelphia graffiti and refresh the city with the help of volunteers. The daylong painting project took place in early April as part of Philadelphia’s annual Philly Spring Cleanup and Keep America Beautiful Great American Cleanup campaign.