Performance Enhancing Additives
June 2017 www.coatingsworld.com Coatings World | 47

texturing/feel to our customers’ end products. These enable our customers to expand their product portfolio to meet their downstream needs.

Unimin: Natural and precipitated mineral filler additives provide excellent property enhancements with the best or competitive economics compared to many synthetic additive options. Benefits include gloss control, UV resistance, flame and smoke suppression, UV cure compatibility, surface hardness, water spot resistance, and scratch resistance.

CW: What considerations should formulators make when choosing a performance enhancing additive?

BASF: The following should be taken into consideration while selecting light stabilizer performance enhancing additive:

1. Water-borne or solvent-borne coating system where light stabilizers will be used will influence the choice. For example, for water-borne coatings systems, BASF offers Tinuvin® DW based on our proprietary Novel Encapsulation Additive Technology (NEAT) in which active substance is encapsulated within an acrylic polymer. 2. Clear or pigmented – A heavily pigmented system may not need light stabilizers while a clear coating system or slightly pigmented system will need light stabilizers. 3. Dry film thickness of the final coating will influence the choice and quantity of light stabilizers used including combining UV absorbers and hindered amine light stabilizers which work synergistically to protect coatings from UV exposure. 4. Warranty – Automotive OEMs typically offer 10-year warranty on coatings and as such they need light stabilizers which can protect coatings for the intended duration and more. 5. Substrates – To a certain extent the type of substrates also influence the choice of light stabilizers. BASF offers Tinuvin® CarboProtect specifically developed for solvent borne coatings over carbon fiber reinforced plastics and epoxy matrix.

Clariant: As with the benefits, the con-
siderations to be taken into account
when choosing a performance enhancing
additive will depend on what the formu-
lator is looking to gain for their formu-
lation. In general, they should consider
overarching trends in aspects including
aesthetics, health and wellbeing and
eco-label requirements, convenience and
multi-functionality, and operational effi-
ciency, as well as the desired effect to be
achieved with the coating.

Formulators can choose from an enormous variety of additives and we understand how important it is for a paint formulator to be able to quickly identify the most appropriate additive for the requirements of their new development or an existing formulation problem. The extent can be seen quite simply by looking at the broad selection within our own portfolio.

Clariant’s additives can provide several functions, for example water repellence effects for outdoor coatings with CERIDUST® 3910, matt or structured powder coating finishes for anti-fingerprint coatings with CERIDUST® 3940 F or CERIDUST® 3941 F, or slip for easy cleaning provided by CERIDUST® 3920 F.

For Clariant’s light stabilizer additives, the key considerations formulators should make are the level of performance requirement, the ease of use as well as the EHS labeling. For each of those considerations, Clariant offers innovative solutions.

For Intumescent Coatings for fire protection, a high quality and consistency of key parameters of ingredients is crucial for producing premium coatings not only with excellent fire performance but also good applicability and storage behavior.

It is because of the vast choice available that for specific processing ingredients we have scrutinized our portfolio to identify performance parameters and side-effects. We offer usage recommendations with more narrowed dosage levels than our competitors do and support our customers in regulatory questions and give guidance for ecolabel certifications.

keim additc: By first focusing on the
desired end properties as well type of
formulation and working to balance the
other formulary constituents, the selec-
tion of the proper additive must also
consider price/performance along with
any possible regulatory requirements.

Lonza: Microbial control additives, in common with many other types of additives, require a significant investment of time and effort to evaluate initially and then roll out into commercial use. In cases where the additive has to be replaced again a year or two later, the full value of that invested time and effort is not realized. Formulators should therefore consider if the additives are “future proof” and if so represent viable long-term options. In the case of microbial control additives, it is therefore important to consider changes on the horizon for biocide regulations, and to select additive options which are likely to survive even if today’s regulatory trends later manifest as tomorrow’s new regulations.

Micro Powders: Many times a formulator has a choice of using larger amounts of a less expensive wax additive, or using lower dosages of a higher performance product. In many cases, a more expensive additive ends up being more cost effective because of their improved efficiency vs. less expensive additives. At low dosage, a high performance wax can enable a lower total formulation cost by overcoming coating flaws in an otherwise lower performance resin/binder/pigment system.

Shamrock Technologies: Formulators should be focusing on the entire value proposition. More and more emphasis is now placed on the efficacy of the additive, as well as the sustainability and impact on the environment.

Unimin: Considerations are; 1: Compatibility with current system and contribution to desired effect. 2) Are there side effects, and if there are do the benefits outweight the time to adjust or include other additives. 3) is there a simpler solution 4) Health and safety. CW