Development of High Throughput Method for Evaluating the Effect of Additives on Foam Stabilization in Clear Coatings

By Jeff Anderson, Rebecca Ortiz

One of the more challenging aspects of formulating water-based coatings is in the selection of a foam control additive package and evaluating its effect on the ability of the formulation to resist and release entrained air. Current laboratory methods of analyzing defoaming efficiency can be complicated, time consuming, and typically require significant volumes of materials for testing.

The novel method presented here allows for small volume, high throughput analysis of the effect of foam control additives and other surfactants on the ability of a coating formulation to resist air entrainment. The method additionally allows for use of “shear rate” and “time of recovery” as process variables that can be used to simulate a diverse range of conditions that a coating may experience during the manufacturing or application process.

Furthermore, the unique approach of using color as a comparative tool to evaluate the relative amount of air in the liquid coating formulations is shown to be an effective means of analysis.