Life after pyrrolidones – Hard waterborne coatings with hazard free PUD’s

Pyrrolidone solvents such as NMP and NEP, have been a mainstay of the coatings industry for many years. They allow hard coatings to be prepared at low levels of VOC’s without the addition of coalescing solvent. As legislation becomes increasingly restrictive on the use of these harmful solvents however, the future of the coatings industry requires ways of formulating around this change.
Currently, hard pyrrolidone free coatings are either high in VOC or require the post-addition of coalescing solvent to achieve film formation at ambient temperature or below. Although useful as a temporary means of removing pyrrolidones, this does not provide a long term solution.
In this presentation, Incorez present the knowledge needed to produce hard pyrrolidone free coatings with minimal VOC and no health hazards. This enables ambient temperature film formation with no additional cosolvent requirements. Using the information provided, formulators will be able to meet the increasingly tough performance requirements demanded of them, whilst reducing their environmental impact.