Leveraging fundamental structure-property relationships to develop solutions for compliant coating systems 

Jianhui Zhou, Kevin McCreight, Glen Shields and Paul Swan, Eastman Chemical Company, USA

Volatile organic compound (VOC) regulations are driving changes in coating formulations to waterborne technology or to higher solids in solventborne systems. Environmental awareness is leading to pressure to develop “green” or “sustainable” products for the coatings industry. The focus of this effort was to gain an understanding of the structure-property-performance relationships of cellulosic additives in waterborne and high solids solventborne coatings in order to better tailor these materials to address ongoing needs in compliant systems. This paper will demonstrate how modification of additive properties such as acid number in waterborne systems, or glass transition temperature (Tg) in solventborne systems lead to corresponding differences in basic properties such as solubility, compatibility, and VOC requirement and how these parameters relate to application, property development, and appearance in a variety of end-use applications including waterborne and solventborne automotive OEM and refinish basecoats. In waterborne systems, acid number correlated strongly with compatibility and solubility, while in solventborne systems, Tg was linked with dry-to-touch and appearance.