9.5 Role of Polymeric Hollow Sphere Pigments in Abrasion Resistance
(Room 243-245)
10 Apr 18
4:30 PM
-
5:00 PM
Tracks:
Session 9: Architectural Coatings II
Polymeric Opacifiers (POs) are spherical hollow pigments commonly used in architectural coatings to either provide enhanced opacity to a coating or as a partial supplement for inorganic white pigments, such as TiO2. However, it is commonly known in the industry that the incorporation of POs can degrade a coating’s ability to resist visible marring or burnishing of the paint surface. This constraint limits paint manufacturers’ latitude to formulate with POs.
BASF has employed microscopy to help uncover fundamental reasons for the observed decrease in surface abrasion resistance in the presence of POs. The data indicates that surface degradation is most likely due to weak interfacial interactions between the POs and the paint matrix. Our hypothesis is that this weak interfacial interaction causes the POs to act more like voids in the matrix decreasing the overall film integrity of the paint, thus making it more susceptible to abrasion defects. In this paper, we present mechanical and analytical data to support our hypothesis. In addition, we present formulation approaches to improve burnish resistance.