Multifunctional nanoparticles for high-performance binders

Juan Yang, Christian Simon, Ferdinand Männle, Monika Pilz and Huaitian Bu, SINTEF Materials and Chemistry, Norway Tina Helland and Olav Marstokk, JOTUN AS, Norway (juan.yang@sintef.no )

Because of the increasing concern about health-related risks and the unpleasant odour, development of paints containing zero or low volatile organic compounds (VOC) has become a current interesting research field. The paint industry has been driven to develop environmentally friendly products which should also meet good stringent performance standards without reducing the durability of the paint.

This paper will focus on results from development of a new binder technology for paint by introducing nanotechnology to meet the new VOC legislation. Several types of amino-based silica/metal oxide nanoparticles with various inorganic ratios of Si, Al, Zr and Ti have been successfully synthesized. By carefully controlling experimental parameters, particles less than 50nm could be prepared. The nanoparticles were mixed with the paint components after surface modification by organic acids. The results showed that the surface modified nanoparticles presented good compatibility with the paint systems. Drying time and pendulum hardness of high solid alkyd paints and alkyd emulsion paints with slow curing properties have been significantly improved by this new binder technology. The new paint is formulated within the new VOC-legislation without sacrificing the properties of good exterior alkyd paints.