Resins Market Update
April 2017 www.coatingsworld.com Coatings World | 39
group. This unique technology brings both excellent package
stability and a level of chemical and solvent resistance to the
cured films not seen with other UV-curable systems,” he said.
Southwell said that she is seeing a need for resins capable
of meeting tough performance demands in ultra-low VOC for-
mulations. “Aiming to minimize solvent load, formulators are
looking for polymers providing the functionality of efficient film
formation while maintaining high-performance properties,” she
said. “One approach that our R&D team is developing to meet
customers’ needs is an acrylic-based hybrid resin. This technique
combines traditional acrylic polymer synthesis with other resin
chemistries, enabling the hybrid resin to replace less environ-
mentally friendly products. Specialty Polymers has been on the
forefront of innovation for nearly 50 years, and we continue to
engineer solutions that help our customers meet strict environ-
mental regulations.”
According to Schnieders, Lubrizol’s primary focus is to
provide customers with resins that meet specific perfor-
mance requirements.
“The challenge is meeting those performance requirements
as well as VOC requirements,” he said. “We’re constantly ex-
ploring new materials that can meet this dynamic challenge.
One outcome is a recently introduced acrylic-modified oil
product for wood coatings. This product gives customers per-
formance benefits when used as a sanding sealer, stain vehicle
or blendable polymer for topcoats. This product delivers these
benefits and can still be formulated to less than 50 grams/li-
ter VOC (via US EPA Method 24). Additionally, this resin has
50% renewable content. Stricter environmental regulations
have also driven our development of low VOC additives and
humectants allowing customers to create formulations that
meet environmental regulations.”
Because the demand for eco-friendly products has increased
so dramatically in recent years, Arkema has introduced several
new low-VOC products in just the last year.
One product, ENCOR 636, is a 100 percent acrylic latex for
use in a wide range of low-VOC and APEO-free architectural
coatings applications. This new resin was designed to help formulators simplify raw material inventory needs. “It is good for
use in both typical and specialty coating formulations, is APEO
free, provides excellent gloss development and adhesion across
multiple wet and dry substrates, and exhibits good grain crack
resistance. It was designed to offer the best possible balance
between cost and performance in a low-VOC capable binder,”
Dumain said.
The company has also introduced SYNAQUA 4804, an
alkyd emulsion for low VOC architectural and light duty industrial maintenance formulations; and CELOCOR AF, a new
ammonia-free opaque polymer for use in low odor interior or
exterior architectural coatings with “excellent hiding power.”
New products
Leading resins manufacturers are frequently introducing new
technologies to the market. What follows is information on these
new innovations from select manufacturers, in their own words.
Arkema: ENCOR 167S latex for high performance caulks
and sealants, a new binder that does not require any external plasticizers in the formulation. Product attributes include
excellent exterior durability and adhesion, and it provides a
range of additional benefits, including improved dirt pickup
and mildew resistance.
REAFREE 6818 is a saturated carboxylated polyester hybrid
coating resin suitable for the formulation of low temperature
decorative and protective thermosetting powders in combination with epoxy resins. It offers good flow properties and high
salt spray resistance, along with good mechanical and recoat-ability properties.
Lubrizol: Two recently introduced products are Aptalon
W8060 and Carboset CR3090.
Aptalon W8060 is a water-borne, self-crosslinking polyurethane dispersion designed using patented Aptalon polyamide polyol technology. It is designed for high performance
wood coatings applications. Aptalon W8060 is NMP, NEP, and
APEO-free, which allows for globally compliant formulations.
The patented Aptalon backbone chemistry gives the resin hydrolysis resistance, hardness, and chemical resistance that outperforms other water-borne polyurethane chemistries.
Carboset CR-3090 is an APEO and formaldehyde-free, sty-rene-acrylic copolymer emulsion designed for light to medium
duty industrial coating applications. Carboset CR3090 is a
water-borne resin technology that offers a single resin for formulating primers, topcoats and direct-to-metal, one-component
coatings. It provides outstanding corrosion, chemical and stain
resistance with superb adhesion to various metal substrates. The
product is robust, allowing flexibility required when formulating coatings that require long lasting color and gloss retention.
Specialty Polymers: RayVace 684 has been developed for institutional interior latex applications that specify low odor and
low VOC. This vinyl-acrylic resin can be formulated with little
or no coalescing solvents and provides highly efficient pigment
binding capability. Coatings formulated with RayVace 684
demonstrate outstanding scrub and chemical resistance.
RayKote 2020 is an acrylic-based hybrid resin designed for
DTM applications. This acrylic hybrid dispersion works well for
low VOC Systems and offers excellent corrosion resistance as
well as adhesion to multiple metal substrates. It also has good
gloss and color retention in QUV testing, so it can be used for
both primer and topcoat applications.
Sun Chemical: Sun Chemical and DIC recently launched the
self-healing properties of Acrylic WQU-339, which provides the
ability for coatings to autonomously heal themselves from minor scratches—a major technological achievement in the coatings industry where we continue to lead.
Additionally, another DIC-based technology is Acrylic
WML-350, a second-generation film forming resin for direct
application and adhesion to polypropylene and PTO that does
not require any additional adhesion promoters or additives. Sun
Chemical delivers an evolving portfolio of resin technologies
from DIC which combines unmatched convenience and technological innovation. CW
