Technical Challenges for the TiO2 Industry

By Michael P. Diebold

Titanium dioxide—the most opaque of all white pigments—is a crucial component of most modern coatings. Coatings formulations continually evolve to meet increasingly challenging performance, regulatory, and economic demands, and as they do it is critical that the TiO2 pigments evolve as well. The technical challenges for pigment manufacturers include understanding, anticipating, and satisfying both the current and the emerging technical needs of the coatings industry. This article describes some of these needs and how they are being met by the TiO2 pigment industry.