Understanding and Improvement of TiO2 Efficiency in Waterborne Paints Through Latex Design

By Jacob Wildeson , Alan Smith, Xiaobo Gong, H.T. Davis, L.E. Scriven

As environmental regulations for formulating architectural coatings be­come ever more stringent, the role of the polymeric latex in bringing out the utmost in performance properties has never been greater. In particular, the South Coast Air Quality Management District (SCAQMD) legislation, which is to be fully implemented in July 2008, offers new challenges and opportu­nities to architectural coatings manufacturers in providing latex dispersion products which are VOC compliant at 50 g/L.

As a result, such properties as freeze/thaw resistance, scrub resistance, and substrate adhesion, which in the past were mainly imparted by the high levels of VOC components in the paint formulation, are now optimized through devel­oping technologies that are centered around the nature of the latex design. At the same time, there is an in­creasing demand to develop the latex to be more com­patible with the other raw materials in the paint for­mulation.

As costs rise for paint manufacturers, the need to minimize the amount of costly raw materials gains a growing importance. Figure 1 shows a rough raw material cost breakdown for a gallon of paint in high-gloss, semi-gloss, and flat sheens.