Compliance with the latest environmental legislation without compromising paint performance – A new generation of acrylic binders

Across the world initiatives are being put in place to reduce the impact of coatings on the environment. In Europe a new version of the eco-label will be introduced, while in countries such as France and Germany legislation on in-door air quality is already in place. It can be expected that in the foreseeable future these schemes will be harmonized in the whole European Union.

As a consequence there is a strong demand for novel waterborne binders that can be formulated with minimal amounts of volatile organic compounds (VOC) and that also fulfill the requirements for longer term emissions (the total VOC or “TVOC”).

In this paper a novel acrylic dispersion technology will be presented that is used to produce a series of binders that have outstanding properties and that at the meantime are completely compliant.

These acrylic dispersions can be used in a variety of applications such as trim paints and coatings for furniture or parquet. Coating formulations and application results, including longer term emission data, based on this new class of resins will be discussed.