Surfactant Influence on Colorant Acceptance
foam surfactant and relatively hydrophobic.
Other hydrophobic acetylenic diol-based
surfactants were also effective; however,
most traditional alkyl phenol ethoxylates
and alcohol ethoxylate-based surfactants
were not effective with this colorant.
One of the most widely used colorants
needed in both water-based and solvent-
based systems is PBk 7, which is based
on a very different chemistry than the or-
ganic PV 23. Once again, colorant accep-
tance could be improved by post-adding
surfactants to the base paint. In general,
the best results were achieved with high
HLB (hydrophilic) alcohol ethoxylates
in both water-based and solvent-based
base paints (Figure 5), although differ-
ences were seen between the different
base paints. This hydrophilic surfactant
worked well in both a high gloss, solvent-
based alkyd, a water-based polyurethane/
alkyd trim paint and a flat interior paint
based on a styrene-acrylic emulsion;
however, lower HLB surfactants worked
better in the flat interior paint based on a
pure acrylic latex.
Similar results could be seen with other colorants and binder systems (Figure
6), where the addition of nonionic surfactants could improve the acceptance of different colorants when they were let down
into base paints of different chemistries.
Conclusions
The experiments show that nonionic
surfactants can be used to improve the
acceptance of colorants into different
chemistries and types of base paint. These
additives help the stabilization of the pig-
ments by slowing down or compensating
for the migration of dispersants and other
stabilizing surfactants from the pigment
in the colorant to pigments in the base
paint, or vice versa. Further studies are
needed to better understand the struc-
ture-property relationships in order to
predict which nonionic surfactants might
give the optimum performance for a giv-
en colorant-base paint combination. CW
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Acknowledgements
The authors would like to acknowledge the hard work and support of
Wilco Chaigneau, Samir el Ajaji, Yvonne
Lavrijsen, Odin van Vliet, and Shauna
McAuliffe in the preparation of this paper.
Figure 5: Colorant acceptance with PBk 7 colorant in a high-gloss solvent-based alkyd (left) and a water-based polyurethane/alkyd trim paint (right).
Figure 6: PB 15: 3 colorants let down into a Vinnapas EZ3010 (VAE) white base paint (left) and PR 112
colorants let down into a satin interior paint based on Acronal 296D (styrene-acrylic emulsion).
