The 2024 American Coatings Show (ACS) concluded on May 2, with a total of 588 exhibitors, over 138,800 square feet of exhibit space, and over 9,000 total participants. The concurrent American Coatings Conference (ACC) was a marked success as well, with some 931 attendees from 29 countries taking advantage of 96 selected presentations and learning opportunities, clustered in 16 topical sessions. During the conference, the 2024 American Coatings Award was presented to Michael Krayer, Senior Scientist & Global Technology Manager – Dispersions & Resins North America, and Sean William Bullis, Chemist II – Architectural Coatings. Keynoter Dr. Robert Roop, Senior Vice President and CTO at Axalta Coating Systems, delivered a thought-provoking address.

The PCI staff spent a busy three days meeting with suppliers from around the world. Below is a snapshot of some of the companies that we met with, and the technology that they showcased at the show.


Arkema Highlighted Technologies to Support Sustainability Goals

Arkema showcased a wide range of solutions and technologies in support of its customers’ commitment to decarbonization, more circularity, and other sustainability goals. Eric Kaiser, a U.S. Regional Business President for Coatings at Arkema, noted three areas of focus at the ACS. “The first is to accelerate the development of more sustainable solutions to meet customer expectations for efficient building and indoor well-being. This includes health, protection, durability, cooler buildings along with user-friendly application with minimal environmental impact. The second is performance—supporting the industry to adopt more sustainable solutions with performance levels better than those they use today. And the last is partnership—true change will require input and collaboration from companies across the coatings value chain,” he said. 

At the Arkema booth, PCI met with Richard Jenkins, Senior Vice President, Coating Solutions and Executive Committee member. He echoed Kaiser's comments on corroboration, noting that the ACS is a "value chain event," and that "we can't solve the problem as separate pieces—we all need to work together." Jenkins also noted the important role that coatings suppliers have in the value chain. "It is our material science that brings solutions. We have a place in the value chain where we can unite the downstream and the upstream—the synthesis is at our level," he said. 

Arkema exhibited a wide range of sustainability-related initiatives, including: 

Renewable-Based and Lower-Carbon-Footprint Materials 

  • Bio-based segregated solutions, including UV-curable, waterborne resins, and additives featuring up to 97% bio-content. 
  • Biomass balance solutions: Arkema is pursuing ISCC+ certification at its acrylic production sites in North America—to complement efforts in other geographies—as part of the ambition to expand its bio-attributed mass balance resins and additives progressively worldwide for all major coating technologies including UV/LED/EB, waterborne, high solid, and powders. 
  • Recycled-based solutions, including accelerated development of rPET-based materials, with up to 40% recycled content, for powder coating applications. 

Decarbonizing the Built Environment 

  • Lower energy-intensive solutions, with new offerings for UV/EB coil coatings that offer up to 60% energy savings* during application, as well as powder resins enabling low to ultra low-temperature (as low as 135 °C) cure coating applications. 

Enhancing Efficient New Mobility 

  • Solvent-free and lower energy-intensive coating solutions for protecting battery cells, including UV/LED specialty materials for improved electrical insulation, powder resins for intumescent fire-retardant coatings, and waterborne resins for liquid applied sound deadeners (LASDs). 

Reducing Energy Consumption of Buildings 

  • Improved solutions for cool surface coatings, including resins and additives that enable up to 30% saving in air conditioning and ultra-durable material for building facades designed to extend the lifespan of coatings, reduce costs. and improve carbon footprint. 
  • Improved building efficiency with molecular sieves for insulated glass flexible spacers that can improve energy savings by 95% vs. non-insulated glass. 

Supporting Community Health and Well-Being 

  • Solutions for living comfort, including resins, additives, and systems designed to improve safety and provide high performance across a wide range of coating and related applications, including new low-migration UV/LED-curable systems for packaging inks and coatings, and waterborne isocyanate-free systems for 2K industrial applications. 


Arxada Showcased Wet-State and Dry-Film Preservatives

Arxada featured its wet-state and dry-film preservatives, including its advanced TIME controlled-release dry-film technology, a suite of latest generation encapsulated anti-fungal and anti-algal products engineered to provide balanced protection over time, reduce leaching into the environment, and maximize safety, handling, and environmental advantages. Products include Polyphase®, Troysan®, Omadine®, Proxel®, and Mergal® preservatives.

Arxada also showcased its additive portfolio, including an extensive collection of products for liquid and powder coatings. These products include Troykyd®, Troythix®, Troysol®, Troysperse®, Effexel®, and Powdermate® performance additives.

In addition, the company shared information on its premier services, including global regulatory assistance and comprehensive technical services, including microbiological and field testing, R&D and analytical support, and the unique TMMA (The Microbial Management Advantage) plant hygiene program.

Nigel Atkinson, Vice President, Paints & Coatings, stated, “ACS 2024 was a success for Arxada. We were pleased with the level of interest in the Arxada booth and in our technical presentation at the Conference. We enjoyed the opportunity to speak with visitors about our broad portfolios of preservatives and additives, as well as our full range of technical and regulatory services. ACS continues to be an excellent venue for connecting with the paints and coatings industry and our valued customers, and for sharing our technical leadership as we continue to deliver “Better Science to Solve the World’s Toughest Preservation Challenges”.


Ashland Introduced New Substrate Wetting Agents

Ashland Inc. is building on its history of providing high-performing, bio-based modifiers for architectural and industrial coatings with new breakthrough platform technologies that are tunable, scalable, and sustainable. The company featured these innovations at the ACS.

Ashland highlighted Easy Wet™ substrate wetting agents, new to the company’s product portfolio under the super wetters technology platform. These wetting agents are an environmentally safe and cost-effective alternative to silicone surfactants without compromising performance. The company reports that Easy-Wet 300 has the lowest volatile organic compounds (VOCs) in the industry. The product delivers a defect-free film with low foaming and no cratering performance.

Easy-Wet wetting agents round out Ashland's robust offering for the industrial coatings market, which includes Dextrol™ and Strodex™ phosphate esters, and Drewplus™ foam control agents.

Additionally, Ashland featured the multiple products associated with its mainstay architectural coatings business, such as the Natrosol™ hydroxyethyl cellulose (HEC) and Aquaflow™ nonionic synthetic associative thickener (NSAT) offerings.

"Ashland's platform technologies signal a new era for paint formulation," said Dago Caceres, Vice President and General Manager, Specialty Additives, Ashland. "We are going beyond rheology and putting the power of our people and products in the hands of formulators to help them create sustainable and differentiated products. The possibilities are limitless."


BASF Meets Customer Demands for Water- and Solvent-Based Coatings

BASF hosted a press conference at the ACS, where they presented information on three recently launched products. The first was Joncryl® emulsions for intrinsic matte coatings. Joncryl fulfills the market need for matte wood finishes that achieve low gloss, a natural wood look, and durability and ease of use. The product allows formulators to achieve a low-gloss matte effect without the use of external matting agents, which can affect product stability, increase viscosity, and affect dry coating film clarity. BASF's advanced emulsion polymerization process led to the development of water-based polymer particles as small as 100 nm and as large as 10 µm. They peacefully coexist in the same polymer system with no stability issues. These products are especially suited for industrial wood applications. They allow formulators to choose from a range of water-based technologies and can be formulated according to the desired application method: spraying, dipping, roller, and curtain coating, as well as manual applications such as brushing and rolling.

Efka® PX 4360 is a next-generation dispersing agent. Developed specifically for solvent-based industrial coatings, Efka PX 4360 is designed with BASF’s unique Controlled Free Radical Polymerization (CFRP) technology to have a defined polymer architecture that delivers optimal coloristics, excellent compatibility across pigments and coatings systems with improved processability and suitability for aromatic- and tin-free formulations.

“With over 20 years of formulating additives using CFRP, the global introduction of Efka PX 4360 means that customers now have a preferred dispersing agent to formulate next-generation industrial coatings that meet and even exceed the latest performance and sustainability demands from across the globe,” mentioned Randy Brown, Technical Manager, Additives – Dispersions & Resins North America.

The third product discussed was ACRONOL® MB (Mass Balance) water-based acrylic and styrene-acrylic emulsion polymers, which offer high performance and sustainable solutions for formulations used in architectural coatings. These acrylic binders offer the same quality and performance as the company's existing ACRONOL products, with the added benefit of a reduced CO2 footprint for a more sustainable can of paint. Sustainably sourced from bio-feedstock, these polymers offer identical product performance with no reformulation required.

 

BYK-Gardner Showcased Cutting-Edge Testing Instruments

BYK-Gardner USA, including Gardco, VMA-Getzmann, and PELT, unveiled precision test instrumentation for color and appearance, physical tests, multi-layer coating thickness, and dispersion. Captivating instrument demonstrations at the booth offered practical insights into the company’s solutions.

The new color2view spectrophotometer combines intuitive navigation, breakthrough technical performance, and multiple measurement methods¾45°c:0° color, 20°/60° gloss, and fluorescence—in one benchtop spectrophotometer.

The byko-visc RT rotational viscometer is designed to revolutionize viscosity testing with real-time insights and unmatched reliability. This versatile precision viscometer covers a broad range of shear rates and viscosities. The byko-visc RT is a reliable way to measure relative viscosity and a wide range of absolute viscosities.

The booth also showcased the vast array of physical test instruments manufactured and distributed by Gardco, covering everything from abrasion resistance to viscosity measurement. Products included the new GT (Standard) and GT-H (Heated) gel timers. These two models feature CE compliance, an improved interface, a digital readout, and a broad temperature control that delivers unparalleled accuracy and reliability.

While at the booth, visitors could also explore VMA-Getzmann DISPERMAT® dispersers, mixers, stirrers, basket mills, and bead mills for dispersing, mixing, stirring, homogenizing, and fine grinding up to the nanoscale. The new DISPERMAT CV3evo is an innovative all-rounder for the laboratory, with ergonomic design, process control, and electric height adjustment. It is a versatile laboratory dissolver for stirring, dispersing, vacuum dispersing, homogenizing, and fine grinding.

The acquisition of Imaginant Inc. offers an advantageous addition of high-precision ultrasound metrology equipment and transducers to BYK’s test and measurement portfolio. They are known for their PELT® brand coating thickness gauges that detect and measure the thickness of each layer in a multi-layer coating system. PELT coating-thickness gauges provide precise and highly accurate measurements of up to five layers of paint and coatings on virtually any type of substrate.


BYK USA Highlighted Additive Technologies for Many Markets

BYK is a leading global supplier of specialty chemicals. The company’s innovative additives and differentiated solutions optimize product and material properties as well as production and application processes. At the ACS, BYK showcased a variety of products for several markets:

Architectural Coatings

From clear coats to highly filled paints, BYK offers special additives that comply with legal requirements for both aqueous and solventborne systems. The company has an extensive additive portfolio for decorative and architectural coatings, including wetting and dispersing agents, defoamers, and rheological and surface additives.

Automotive OEM and Refinish Coatings

BYK offers additive solutions for aqueous and solventborne automotive OEM and refinish coatings, such as cathodic electro deposition, primers, monolayer topcoats, basecoats, clearcoat systems, and putty primers. The various additive families offer solutions for improving surface properties such as gloss and leveling, support brilliance and color intensity, and help orientation of effect pigments to optimize the flop effect. BYK also offers suitable solutions to prevent foam and the associated defects. Sandability and polishability are also challenges that can be positively influenced with the company's additives.

Can Coatings

BYK offers additives that help develop high surface smoothness, very good scratch and abrasion resistance, absence of bubbles, good substrate adhesion, and very good leveling for can coatings. The additives are suitable for food contact applications according to certain regulations, and can be used in solventborne, aqueous, and radiation-cured can coating systems.

Coil Coatings

The high speeds of industrial band coating lines and the subsequent extreme deformation of the coated sheets demand coatings with very good color stability. They must also be free of foam, provide excellent leveling, adhere well, and have surface characteristics such as smoothness, scratch and abrasion resistance, and also enhanced easy-to-clean properties. With BYK additives, these properties can be achieved in all coil coating application areas.

Floor Coatings

The use of liquid polymer coatings is gaining popularity in many commercial spaces, shopping centers and hospitals. Regulatory oversight has increased significantly at the same time. For this reason, the use of water-based and solvent-free systems is even more important. BYK additives for floor coatings simplify system handling and make it possible to obtain more reproducible results.

General Industrial Coatings

BYK additives provide solutions for pigment stabilization, defoaming, improved surface properties, and rheology control in aqueous, solventborne, and solvent-free industrial coating formulations for plastic, metal, and mineral substrates.

Marine and Protective Coatings

BYK offers special rheology additives for marine, protective, and intumescent coatings. Whether it be the primer, filler, or top coat, BYK offers a wide range of specially selected additives to assist formulators in developing high-performance marine/protective and intumescent coating systems.

Powder Coatings

BYK offers a wide range of additives for powder coatings that improve leveling, prevent craters, and enhance degassing and pigment wetting. A special range of additives is used to improve processing conditions, and other types provide structured or textured surfaces. BYK also provides the right additives for clear powder coatings as well as UV powders.

Wood and Furniture Coatings

BYK formulates premium additives distinctively for wood coating systems, offering high-quality performance characteristics like: easy-to-clean, scratch resistance, UV resistance, excellent surface leveling, and exceptional pigment stabilization within pigmented systems.


Cabot Corp. Showcased Specialty Carbon and Fumed Silica Additives

Cabot Corporation provides innovative specialty carbon and fumed silica additives that can improve the color, processing, applicability, strength, and safety of coatings systems. The company offers products for applications including:

Architectural Coatings: Carbon black products for architectural tinting, decorative tinting and masstone applications help achieve superb color performance with good processability.

Automotive Coatings: Cabot works with global leaders in automotive coatings to provide carbon black and fumed silica additives for both water-based and solvent-based systems.

Coil Coatings: A broad portfolio of fumed metal oxides and specialty carbons for coil coatings.

Conductive Coatings: Specialty carbons offers balance of color, conductivity and processability.

General Metal Coatings: Fumed metal oxide products that enhance product durability and carbon black products that allow formulators to achieve a desired black color or tinting in industrial coating applications.

Ink Receptive Coatings: Fumed metal oxides are very efficient pre-coat additives for ink adsorption on a variety of substrates.

Marine Coatings: Hydrophobic fumed silica products that are particularly well-suited for marine applications.

Wood Coatings: Fumed metal oxide products can improve the storage, application and finished properties of wood coatings that are used for a variety of purposes, including protection, beautification, water resistance and matting.

Coatings Systems: Specialty additives by understanding the formulation system used in various applications.


Clariant Presented Innovations in Sustainability and Performance

Clariant spotlighted a variety of innovations to improve performance and reduce your environmental footprint through bio-based ingredients, as well as opportunities for collaboration with Clariant specialists.

“Clariant is committed to helping the industry transition away from fossil carbon materials towards greener carbon alternatives,” commented Sebastian Prock, Head of Marketing & Application Development, Industrial Applications, Business Unit Care Chemicals. “The VITA portfolio offers 100% bio-based products, and Clariant also has a new portfolio of additives to simplify the formulation of high-performance water-based coatings for industrial applications.”

The VITA product line offers fully segregated, 100% plant-based products, including polyglycols and ethylene oxide derivatives for use in paint and coatings production. Derived from bioethanol, these products are chemically equivalent to fossil-based analogs and show the same performance and efficiency, while significantly lowering carbon footprints compared to traditional materials.

In addition, Clariant offers natural-origin wax products with at least 98% bio-based renewable content. These enhance coating aesthetics, durability, and manufacturing processes. Certified biomass balance-based TERRA options allow sustainable substitutions without compromising performance.

To help customers in the industrial coatings industry transition from solvent- to water-based formulations, Clariant has also developed a new portfolio of wetting and dispersing agents that produce low-viscous formulations while enhancing corrosion resistance and adhesion of the resulting coating.

“We’re also delighted to introduce the newest addition to Clariant’s portfolio of light and heat stabilizers for SMP sealants: AddWorks IBC 760,” commented Ray Gonzales, Head of Marketing Coatings & Adhesives, Business Unit Adsorbents and Additives. “This technology surpasses the performance of current benzotriazole-containing solutions in the market, and it offers improved protection against UV and thermal degradation.”

Omya and Clariant have been jointly granted a European Patent for the AddWorks IBC 760 technology, an innovative label-free light and heat stabilizer solution for SMP sealants. This product offers improved processing and handling properties, while reducing the cracking and yellowing that typically occurs during exposure to strong sunlight or high temperature conditions. AddWorks IBC 760 is furthermore a safe and effective solution that meets the high standards of customers and the industry.


EPS Launched Polymer for Reflective Roof Coatings with Improved DPUR

EPS®— Engineered Polymer Solutions launched EPS 2210. This newly released, all-acrylic polymer for elastomeric wall and roof coatings is capable of conforming to ASTM D6083 Type II standards, ensuring low temperature flexibility at -10° C.

“Our novel polymer was designed to keep white roofs white, by offering excellent asphalt bleed-through and dirt pickup resistance,” said Brent Crenshaw, Ph.D., Senior Scientist at EPS, adding that “this helps decrease the temperature of roofs, which can substantially enhance occupant comfort, lower cooling cost for building owners, and potentially mitigate urban heat island effects.”

EPS 2210 sets itself apart by offering excellent adhesion, and a well-balanced blend of tensile and elongation properties. Other featured products included:

  • EPS 2786 – an all-acrylic polymer that is an exceptional choice for near-zero VOC, high-performance gloss interior and exterior architectural DIY or professional paints. It is formulated without the use of intentionally added fluorosurfactants.
  • EPS 2585 – a high-solids acrylic emulsion for direct-to-metal (DTM) applications that offers great hardness, flexibility, and corrosion resistance.
  • NovoColor® SF waterborne dispersions designed for in-plant tinting of coatings and stains where a high degree of color transparency is desired.


Evonik Introduced Two New Defoamers  

Evonik Coating Additives introduced two innovative defoamers, TEGO Foamex 16 and TEGO Foamex 11. These new additives are designed to improve the sustainability and performance of waterborne architectural coatings.

TEGO Foamex 16 is a siloxane-based defoamer concentrate that provides an exceptional balance of defoaming efficiency and compatibility, particularly for low to medium PVC coatings. TEGO Foamex 11, a siloxane-based defoamer emulsion, is optimized for high-PVC coatings. With 15 percent active ingredient, it is a highly effective, more environmentally friendly alternative to traditional mineral oil-based defoamers.

Both products have very low VOC and SVOC content, and do not contain solvents or mineral oils. In addition, TEGO Foamex 16 contains 25 percent bio-based material, reducing the environmental impact of coatings and inks without sacrificing quality or performance.

Michael Zink, Head of Evonik Coating Additives Americas, emphasized the importance of these new products: “The launch of TEGO Foamex 16 and TEGO Foamex 11 shows how Evonik Coating Additives, together with our customers, is leading the way to more sustainable coatings. These products meet the growing demand for sustainable solutions that deliver exceptional performance. By setting a new industry standard, we are demonstrating that it is possible to achieve outstanding results while meeting the most stringent environmental regulations.”


Hexion Highlighted its Carboxylic Acids, Vinyl Esters, and Glycidyl Esters

Among the highlights at the show, Hexion featured Versatic™ acids, VeoVa™ vinyl esters, and Cardura™ glycidyl ester for industrial and architectural coating applications.

VeoVa™ Vinyl Esters

These products boost the performance of paints, adhesives and RDP. Hexion’s “VeoVa House” is a one-stop-shop for information on the various benefits that VeoVa monomers bring to various applications, including elastomeric roof coatings, wood coatings and adhesives, waterproofing, and interior and exterior paints.

VeoVa Silane Technology

High-performance, isocyanate-free coatings are made affordable with this product. The unique combination of VeoVa vinyl ester and silane monomers in Hexion’s new technology platform enables formulators to develop a variety of moisture-curing products with exceptional performance.

Coating systems can be formulated with extremely long pot lives, yet with very fast property development, immediately after application. The moisture cure mechanism ensures a quick and efficient crosslinking, and fast development of the final properties. The very short dust-free time and early hardness development allow for a high productivity with either 1K or 2K systems.

Coatings developed as 1K systems simplify handling, storage, and transportation, and reduce waste and overall cost. The completely isocyanate-free curing processes further reduce environmental impact and provide healthier work environments.

Cardura Glycidyl Ester

Cardura glycidyl ester offers innovative approaches towards easy-to-produce, low- to no-VOC high-performance coatings. Cardura E10P, the glycidyl ester of Versatic Acid 10, has been used for decades as a building block for high-performance resins for automotive, industrial, and construction applications. It enables the production of (ultra)-high solids and waterborne low-viscosity polymers with good substrate wetting, UV, and chemical resistance.

The epoxy group of Cardura glycidyl ester can react with amines, acids, alcohols and other functional groups to allow the use of Cardura glycidyl ester in acrylic, polyester, star polyester and epoxy-based resins as a building block and/or a reactive diluent.

Cardura E10P glycidyl ester allows acrylic polyol polymerization at higher temperatures that can be used to reduce molecular weight and thus polymer viscosity. In addition to this, the bulky structure of Cardura E10P glycidyl ester limits the intermolecular chain interactions, which contributes to the viscosity reduction. So Cardura E10P glycidyl ester enables a wider processing window for APOs, while maintaining an appropriate balance of critical application properties such as drying time, pot life, and VOC level, which enables formulation cost-reduction opportunities.

When Cardura glycidyl ester is used as a reactive diluent for epoxy flooring coatings, its low viscosity, low volatility and resistance to crystallization provide unique performance.

Versatic Acid 10

Versatic Acid 10 is a safer alternative to 2-ethylhexanoic acid for paint driers and additives. It is not classified as a hazardous product (per Regulation (EC) No. 1272/2008). Following the Globally Harmonized System of Classification and Labelling of Chemicals (GHS), there are no specific risk phrases for Versatic Acid 10.

Versatic Acid 10 is a synthetic sterically hindered carboxylic acid with a long and highly branched alkyl chemical structure. Benefits include: High hydrophobicity, excellent hydrolytic stability, enhanced heat and chemical resistance, and improved processing and compatibility.

Versatic Acid 10 is the ideal chemical intermediate to produce dryers for alkyd paints and inks, PVC heat stabilizers, and metal-based catalysts for polyurethane foams. The unique performance profile of this product over other carboxylic acids serves a growing application market that covers: tire adhesion promoters, fuel additives, metal working fluids, antifreeze, bitumen emulsifying agents, esters for solvents or lubricants, cosmetics, personal care, detergents, metal extraction, polymerization initiators, and more.


Hockmeyer Showcased Milling Technologies for Lab and Production

Hockmeyer Equipment Corporation exhibited its efficient technologies for particle size reduction. The booth showcased lab units featuring different milling technologies.

The company’s HCP Immersion Mill has been a leading milling technology for over 30 years. This continuously evolving product has opened the door to greater productivity in the particle reduction industry. Hockmeyer's patented design uses rapid recirculation to produce 'Homogeneous Batch Development', achieving faster grinds and tighter particle distributions. The HCP Immersion Mill utilizes rapid recirculation milling technology to achieve a smaller particle size and tighter particle distribution. This is achieved by pumping the slurry through the media field many more times and more efficiently than any other mill, including basket, horizontal, or vertical mills. Circulation can be as fast as 50 passes per hour.

The company's latest innovation is the NexGen™ Vacuum Recirculation Mill. Rapid-flow vacuum immersion milling is designed to enhance efficiency and boost profits by reducing process times, increasing yields, and eliminating air entrapment. It facilitates faster, purer particle size reduction and deagglomeration without the hassle of air bubbles in the feedstock. It is designed with portability in mind, and for tight-fitting spaces.

Hockmeyer's versatile NEXGEN Micro Mill provides scalable results that begin in the laboratory and reliably transfer to production-size units. It achieves particle size reduction on a laboratory scale without allowing air entrapment in the feedstock, eliminating foaming issues and reliably scaling to production-size units.


Ingevity Presented Caprolactone Portfolio

Ingevity launched its newest product, a polycaprolactone polyol for stain-resistant polyurethane dispersions (PUDs), and demonstrated the versatility of the Capa polyols for solventborne and high-solids coating applications. Capa polyols enhance coating formulations by offering tough and durable performance, increasing scratch and abrasion resistance, and generating high gloss and low haze.

Ingevity supplies Capa products into multiple markets, largely helping formulator and applicator customers make tougher, more durable, flexible and resistant, and even biodegradable products.

“The versatility and durability of Capa polyols help customers create premium coating formulations for the most demanding applications,” said Joel Neale, Commercial Director, Advanced Polymer Technologies at Ingevity. “We’re excited to debut our newest Capa polyol technology at this year’s show, which offers improved stain resistance and hardness in PUDs while maintaining flexibility.”


LANXESS Showcased Solutions for Sustainable Paints and Coatings

Specialty chemicals company LANXESS presented a range of high-quality industrial preservatives, pigments, and polyurethane systems that positively contribute to sustainability efforts in the paints and coatings industry.

Experts from the company’s three business units—Material Protection Products, Inorganic Pigments, and Urethane Systems—were on hand to discuss how their products can help paint and coatings manufacturers address current trends and challenges to reduce their carbon footprint and develop more eco-friendly products.

Expanded Range of Industrial Preservatives and Services

With the recent acquisition of IFF Microbial Control, LANXESS is now one of the world’s largest suppliers of microbial control products. The Material Protection Products business unit showcased an expanded range of preservatives for in-can and dry-film preservation, which now includes globally recognized brands such as Bioban, Kathon, and Rocima, in addition to the flagship Preventol brand. 

LANXESS technologies help control and solve microbial contamination problems of materials in the wet state to lengthen product shelf life and help protect dry films from algae, mold, and mildew that lead to degradation in their environments. 

At the ACS, the spotlight was on superior dry-film preservatives for sustainable water-based roof coatings. Often the first line of defense in achieving sustainable roofing systems, water-based roof coatings themselves are subject to deterioration from microorganisms that can reduce their performance and lifespan. LANXESS offers several products tailored to protect roof coatings and support green building initiatives, like energy-saving coatings with low volatile organic compounds (VOCs) and low formaldehyde content: Bioban 200 is a Presidential Green Chemistry Award-winning broad-spectrum and long-lasting fungicide for roof coatings, and the only water-based DCOIT-based product with U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) approval on the market. It can be combined with Rocima 63 (Diuron/Carbendazim/OIT blend) or Preventol AM 63-D (Diuron/Carbendazim/IPBC blend) to achieve robust, broad-spectrum protection against algal and fungal growth. 

Making Sustainability Measurable

For coatings manufacturers, transparency is the key to reducing emissions in their supply chains. Environmental product declarations (EPDs) have become a proven means of communicating the environmental footprints of products and provide the basis for determining consistent lifecycle assessments for complete buildings. 

LANXESS was the first synthetic iron oxide manufacturer to offer verified EPDs for a wide range of its Bayferrox and Colortherm brands of red, yellow, and black pigments. The EPDs provide comprehensive information on the environmental performance of these iron oxide pigments from cradle to gate, and are a credible basis for comparing products from different material suppliers. With full transparency into the eco-profile of Bayferrox pigments, coatings manufacturers can make a reliable evaluation to optimize the sustainability of their own products.

The LANXESS product range for iron oxide consumers includes Bayferrox red, yellow, black, and brown iron oxides, as well as green shades based on Colortherm chromium oxides. By utilizing a complete technology portfolio, the full coloristic spectrum is covered to meet the specific requirements of the paints and coatings industry.

Sustainable Polyurethane Systems for High-Performance Coatings

The Urethane Systems business unit offers a range of polyurethane dispersions, pre-polymers for adhesives, formulated polyurethane dispersion systems for functional coatings, polyester polyols for coating formulations, and blocked isocyanates. Urethane coatings demand wear, abrasion, chemical and UV resistance, for which LANXESS can offer a range of solutions.

With growing demand from customers for VOC-free and lower-carbon-footprint materials, as well as increasing regulatory pressure upon restricted chemicals, LANXESS’ applied research in water-based technologies delivers greener solutions. The Witcobond line of polyurethane dispersions (PUDs) and Trixene Aqua BI blocked crosslinkers enable formulators to comply with increasingly demanding regulations on VOC content, and also to develop high-performance products with improved chemical resistance, coating adhesion, and robustness. 

LANXESS has expanded even further on its polyurethane dispersions expertise and designed a range of specialty ready-to-use lacquers for many different applications, marketed under the Pellart brand. The Pellart aqueous modular system can be used to produce high-quality surfaces for a range of substrate materials for automotive interiors, wood coatings, decorative foils, textiles, and other surface coatings. The products effectively support the high-end technical requirements for haptics, chemical resistance, gloss level, temperature and abrasion resistance, combined with the lowest possible concentrations of VOC content.


Micro Powders Displayed Innovations in Wax Additives

Micro Powders' specialty wax additives portfolio includes a range of fine and coarse powders, composites, and nanocomposites that improve performance in all types of paints and coatings. The company’s natural and synthetic powders, dispersions, and emulsions provide surface protection, gloss reduction, water repellency, texturing, and haptics. Micro Powders also offers an extensive commercial portfolio of PTFE alternative products. Their products are used in many different coatings markets, including:

Architectural Coatings

The performance demands of today’s modern interior and exterior architectural coatings can be achieved with a wax additive that provides effective gloss control, enhanced burnish resistance, improved soil release, and superior in-can stability. Micro Powders’ products can enhance these properties while also improving water repellency, scratch resistance, and imparting texture and haptic effects.

Can and Container Coatings

Coatings for cans and containers have demanding performance requirements such as abrasion and block resistance, as well as surface slip and mobility. Micro Powders' micronized wax additives can enhance these properties with optimal gloss, clarity, and durability.

Coil Coatings

The company’s micronized wax additives can significantly improve the performance of thin film metal coatings with benefits that include enhanced surface lubricity and anti-block, abrasion and scratch resistance.

Energy-Curable Coatings

UV and other energy-curable coatings benefit when formulated with micronized wax additives that impart slip, rub, and scratch resistance, while improving hardness and anti-block performance. Micro Powders' products can enhance these properties with the optimum gloss level, haptics, and durability that customers demand.

Industrial Coatings

Coatings for industrial products present a range of performance challenges, from improving slip and lubricity to boost abrasion resistance and anti-blocking. The right micronized wax additive can enhance these properties while imparting visual and tactile effects that include matting, texturing, and haptics.

Industrial Floor Coatings

Coatings for industrial flooring require unique surface properties that include COF and gloss control, scuff and abrasion resistance, and water repellency. Micro Powders offers a broad range of wax additives for walking surfaces, including fine-to-coarse powders that impart anti-skid effects while providing a range of durable surface texturing.

Leather Coatings

Wax additives can enhance the durability and cleanability of coatings for both artificial and natural leather products. They can also impart unique mattifying, texturing and haptic effects to create a wide range of high-quality finishes.

Powder Coatings

A durable powder-coated surface can be improved with micronized wax additives that provide effective degassing, abrasion resistance, anti-blocking, and lubricity. Special surface effects that control gloss, add texture, improve corrosion resistance, and impart distinct coating structure are also possible with Micro Powders’ unique line of powder coating additives.

Wood Coatings

The natural beauty of a coated wood surface can be protected and enhanced with micronized waxes that improve scratch and mar resistance, add lubricity, and impart a range of haptic effects. The company’s products can enhance these properties while providing texture, gloss reduction, water beading, and more.


Momentive Showcased Silicone Additive Technology  

Momentive Performance Materials group, recently acquired by KCC Corporation, provides versatile silicone coatings additives that offer the properties and flexibility customers need to enhance the application, adherence, and durability of their coating systems. These additives may help to improve processing operations by providing the ability to tailor wetting, defoaming, and release characteristics. And they help extend re-application intervals by imparting improved gloss retention, mar, UV and corrosion resistance properties.

Momentive’s CoatOSil™ coatings additives and Silquest™ silanes are excellent candidates for an array of industries and applications, including water- and solventborne coatings, high-solids inks, primers, powder, and ultraviolet/electron beam (UV/EB)-cure coatings. These products can deliver advanced properties for applications such as automotive clear coats and refinish systems, coatings for transportation and aerospace, wood coatings, protective coatings for flooring, marine, coil, industrial maintenance, and other demanding applications.

CoatOSil coatings additives offer multiple advantages to enhance the appearance and longevity of coated surfaces, including increased substrate wetting, mar resistance, and gloss retention, as well as excellent chemical, UV, and corrosion resistance. Their enhanced flow and leveling properties also help to eliminate defects in finish surfaces.

CoatOSil coatings additives, as well as Silquest silanes, can provide moisture-initiated crosslinking in properly modified resins for coatings and inks, as well as offer improved wet adhesion, chemical and corrosion resistance, weatherability, pigment dispersion, and scrub resistance. CoatOSil coatings additives and Silquest silanes may also enhance the durability of coatings by delivering improved thermal stability, creep resistance, and hardness.


Orion Highlighted Gas Blacks and Sustainable Products for Coatings

Orion S.A., a global specialty chemicals company, showcased its suite of high-performance gas black pigments and their benefits to coatings manufacturers. Orion also highlighted three new sustainable carbon blacks for coatings, plus its PRINTEX® kappa 50 conductive black. 

“The gas black process produces a deep black with properties that are ideal for coatings and printing systems,” said Carlos Hernandez, Marketing Manager, Coatings & Printing Systems, Americas at Orion, which is the only company with gas black capabilities. “The high structure and high purity of gas blacks lead to exceptional dispersibility compared to other carbon blacks of the same particle size.”

As examples, COLOUR BLACK FW 200, COLOUR BLACK FW 2, SPECIAL BLACK 4, and SPECIAL BLACK 6 feature excellent degrees of dispersion plus high purity. Their UV absorption mitigates weathering and their low pH makes the grades ideal for UV coatings systems. 

“In addition,” Hernandez noted, “the gas blacks’ narrow particle size distribution speeds pigment development, and thus coatings production, while improving color performance.” 

Circular Carbon Blacks for High Jetness and Tinting

Orion’s sustainability strategy is key to its product development. In fact, the company has organized its business around sustainable development and helping coatings manufacturers participate in the circular economy by producing sustainable materials.

“Our new circular grades, based on pyrolysis oil and renewable sources, meet the same application requirements as conventional specialty carbon blacks,” said Jennifer Stroh, Ph.D., Orion Director of Sales and Marketing – Specialties Americas. “As a result, formulators can create more sustainable coatings with comparable application properties to regular specialty carbon blacks.” 

XPB 10045, Orion’s first circular gas black for coatings systems, is designed for high-jetness applications and is compatible with all suitable coatings systems. XPB 10042 and XPB 10049 powders, Orion’s first circular furnace blacks, are designed for tinting applications. They offer the same advantages and application properties as the high-jet and tinting grades currently used in the specialty carbon black market.

Conductive and Clean 

PRINTEX kappa 50 powder meets or exceeds performance requirements for conductivity, dispersibility, and cleanliness at lower concentrations than conventional conductive carbon blacks. Introduced in 2013 and previously designated XPB 545, PRINTEX kappa 50 achieves the percolation threshold with low carbon black loading and good coloristic properties. 

Orion also offers its “Carbon Black Guide.” Featuring 34 of Orion’s most popular carbon blacks used globally for coatings, the “Carbon Black Guide” gives paint formulators a visual sense of the shades they can achieve with different grades. Color chips in the guide show the shades each grade imparts in three coatings types—solid, white blend and metallic blend —and detail relevant coloristic properties. 

Orion Earns Platinum Sustainability Rating by EcoVadis

In April, the company announced that its 2024 sustainability rating from EcoVadis has been raised from Gold to Platinum, the highest possible distinction. Orion now ranks among the top 1% of the companies assessed by EcoVadis, one of the world’s largest providers of business sustainability ratings. The organization revised Orion’s score from 78% to 82% after reassessing the company’s 2023 performance.

“Achieving the Platinum rating is a huge milestone for Orion considering that just three years ago we were at the Silver level. I want to congratulate our global team for their commitment and dedication,” Orion CEO Corning Painter said. “The assessment methodology is complex and involves numerous factors. We appreciate the rigor and dedication to accuracy that EcoVadis brings to the assessment process.”


OXERRA Featured Iron Oxide and Inorganic Pigments  

OXERRA’s range of high-quality iron oxide pigments is suitable for a wide range of coatings in the architectural, powder, and coil coatings markets. Featured products at the ACS included:

Micronized Iron Oxides

CathayCoat™, Kroma, Ferroxide, Copperas Red, MAPICO Yellow, and Ultra Yellow micronized iron oxide pigments are extremely versatile and a highly effective method of adding vibrant color to a wide range of products including pigment pastes, industrial coatings, powder coatings, wood lacquers, automotive and marine paint, architectural paints, and plastics. These pigments are lightfast, color consistent, UV stable, weather resistant, alkali and mild acid resistant, insoluble in water, synthetic, and have excellent dispersibility.

High-Temperature Pigments

CathayTherm™, ColourPlex, SolarPlex and MAPICO® are OXERRA’s range of high-quality, heat-resistant pigments that are ideally suited for a wide range of high-temperature applications, including plastics, powder coatings, high-bake-temperature industrial coatings, coil coatings, specialty coatings, and military coatings, where high heat-fastness is required. The high-temperature line features excellent dispersion characteristics. The pigments are also produced with strict tolerances and offer outstanding opacity, acid, and alkali resistance, along with excellent exterior durability and combability.

Natural Oxides

OXERRA’s naturally occurring iron oxide pigments can be used in both coatings and construction applications. Natural oxide pigments are a preferred choice for wood finishes. OXERRA offers an extensive range of Umbers, Siennas, Ochres, Bone Black, Van Dyke Brown, and Transparent Red and Yellow Iron Oxides, in various quality levels. This allows customers to select the pigment to best meet their needs.

Wood coatings can be clear or opaque, depending on the application requirements and appearance. The beauty of wood’s natural grain and coloring can be enhanced through the application of transparent stains and glazes to create simply subtle to beautifully bold highlights. The colorants in these finishes can be either dyes or transparent pigments.

Most often, transparent iron-oxide pigments are used because of their inherent lightfastness, chemical resistance, natural color shade, and ability to absorb UV light, which provides protection that would normally damage most resin systems.

High-Chroma Reds

These products encompass a wide range of high-performance precipitated reds with a unique hue and chroma, from salmon to dark red and blue shades—shades, that can effectively match the previously unattainable color space of Copperas Reds produced by thermal decomposition of ferrous sulphate. These pigments feature outstanding color and physical properties, which are easy to wet and offer high dispersibility and chemically stability. The pigments are highly micronized and can be dispersed effortlessly in both water-based and VOC-free systems. They provide cost-effective advantages over other normal red iron oxides and can be well-dispersed in a simplified process using high-speed dispersers. This eliminates the use of expensive dispersant additives and pre-dispersed liquid pigment concentrates.


Penn Color Showcased New Pigment Dispersions

Penn Color recently launched Astrad™, a complete portfolio of water-based, solvent-based, and UV dispersions for architectural, automotive, and industrial coatings. Available in standard colorants, Astrad offers industry-leading performance across the board, and sets a new industry benchmark for pigment dispersion compatibility across the broadest selection of bases and resins. Astrad is also available as proprietary technologies used by Penn Color to formulate custom dispersions on demand.

“As the coatings industry has evolved, most new product developments have had to choose between performance or compatibility. Astrad overcomes this contradiction, with new systems delivering both superior color performance and wider compatibility, benefiting both the end-products and the manufacturing processes,” said Phil Adams, Business Director, Industrial Coatings.

The new Astrad product portfolio of water-based, solvent-based, and UV dispersions includes four different series:

  • Astrad-WB is a low-no VOC, APEO-free, binder-free, water-based pigment dispersion. It offers high pigment loading, tight tolerances of shade and color for exact color reproduction, and wide product compatibility.
  • Astrad-UV is available in 100% solids in a variety of monomer systems. It is a sustainable solution, offering low energy curing, wide compatibility, and various degrees of functionality to ensure optimal performance.
  • Astrad-IS is available as a broadly compatible acrylic resin system, with high pigment loading and optimal rheological properties. It is exceptional for universal tinting of solvent-based industrial coatings.
  • Astrad-AUTO is available in a wide variety of single pigment dispersions covering the spectrum of automotive-grade colors, with high chroma and crystal-clear transparency. It provides the highest level of flexibility for paint formulators, with both solvent- and waterborne dispersions. Astrad-AUTO can be used in both basecoats and mid-coats for dynamic color effects.

Advantages of these products include higher pigment loading, tight tolerances of shades and colors, widely compatible systems, drop-in colors, available both as a portfolio of standard colorants and as proprietary technologies used by Penn Color to formulate custom dispersions on demand.


Siltech Focused on the Special Properties of Silicones

Silicone additives have long been recognized as providing special properties to inks and coatings, including better slip, improved mar resistance, better levelling, and foam control. Furthermore, because silicones are effective, even at very low concentrations, they are cost effective, and thus widely used to optimize both product properties and processes. Siltech’s additives for the paint and coatings industry offer formulators a wide range of silicone products to eliminate manufacturing problems and to enhance the final product’s performance. All Siltech products are manufactured to the highest standards to ensure that they meet customers’ needs. Siltech also offers the flexibility of providing many of these products in either in an appropriate solvent or in a neat form. They are designed to meet specific requirements of various coating systems such as solvent, water, solventless or energy curing.

Siltech’s additives cover the following functional classes:

  • Mar resistance
  • Slip
  • Levelling, wetting, flow-out
  • Foam control
  • Gloss
  • Prevention of Bérnard Cells

In addition to the products mentioned above, Siltech also welcomes the opportunity of working with customers to develop unique silicones for specific applications.


Songwon Showcased Its Advanced Coatings Stabilizers

Songwon Industrial Co., Ltd., one of the largest manufacturers of polymer stabilizers in the world and a key global specialty chemicals player, presented its sustainable, high-performance coatings stabilizers at the ACS. SONGWON showcased how its broad and expanded range of coating additives enhances durability and protects surfaces, adhesives, and sealants against the harmful effects of light and heat.

One of the high-value products on display was a liquid hydroxyphenyl triazine (HPT) UV absorber, specially developed to maximize the performance, efficiency, and sustainability of coatings for numerous substrates.

Additional highlights included SONGSORB® UV absorbers (UVAs), hindered amine light stabilizers (HALS), and SONGNOX® anti-oxidants (AOs), designed to meet specific requirements for steel, wood, ceramic, plastic, and composite coatings used in industries such as automotive and transportation, decoration and architectural, furniture and flooring, industrial, and agricultural. SONGWON also showcased new and innovative liquid HPT solutions such as its SONGSORB CS 400 series of high-performance UVAs, SONGSORB CS AQ01 HALS, as well as SONGSORB CS B Blends, for the growing waterborne coatings segment.

“For SONGWON, the coatings industry is a top priority, and we have invested significant resources, particularly in the Americas, to support the growth of this demanding market,” said Steffen Dobberstein, Leader Business Unit Coatings at SONGWON. “Our innovative product technology, advanced manufacturing and strong distribution network ensure that we remain at the forefront of the increasingly complex demands and emerging trends within the very diverse coatings industry. Furthermore, the flexibility of our supply chain logistics and tools has resulted in a superior synergy of global reach and local execution.”


Sun Chemical Presented a Range of Pigments, Polymers, and Additives

Sun Chemical showcased its full range of pigments, polymers, and additives for the coatings industry. Visitors were introduced to new pigments from Sun Chemical’s Paliocrom® aluminum effects line, newly launched waterborne resins, efficient driers and additives, and high-performance polyurethanes—all compatible with an extensive range of coatings and designed to meet customers’ needs while furthering sustainable initiatives.

Pigments

Under the theme “Experience. Transformation. On the Road to a Bright Tomorrow,” Sun Chemical presented new effect pigments. In addition to color space expansion and digital styling inspirations, the company also presented the latest carbon footprint calculations for the established Paliocrom product family and for its USA-sourced natural mica.

Paliocrom aluminum effect pigments are recognized as an ideal choice for golden to red premium colors in modern automotive and high-performance industrial coatings. At the show, the company featured newly launched grades, Paliocrom Brilliant Ruby EH 5050 (L 3558), and Paliocrom Satin Gold EH 3607 (L 2138).

Sun Chemical’s most intense bluish-red aluminum effect pigment, Paliocrom Brilliant Ruby EH 5050 (L 3558), is formulated based on iron-oxide-coated aluminum flakes of the silver-dollar type for modern automotive and high-performance industrial coatings. This new grade comes in the form of a propylene glycol slurry and is suitable both for solventborne and waterborne systems and combines extraordinary hiding power with high brilliance and lightness.

Paliocrom Satin Gold EH 3607 (L 2138) is a mid-shade golden aluminum-based effect pigment with distinct satin character, high chroma, and extremely smooth appearance. It delivers unique color travel and excellent gloss levels, and allows for thin-film applications of automotive basecoats due to its small particle size. With the launch of this new grade, the universal satin effect is now available in the form of a propylene glycol slurry.

The company sources natural mica for its high-quality pearl pigment brands using fully ethical, traceable, and environmentally friendly processes. During the show, Sun Chemical presented the latest product carbon footprint calculations, ethical working practices, and sourcing method from its exclusively owned mica mine in Hartwell, Georgia. 

Polymers and Additives

Sun Chemical offers an elaborate portfolio of polymers and additives for a wide range of coatings and adhesives applications. This includes a broad range of polymer technologies that cover needs for the automotive, transport, aerospace, and construction sectors.

The company’s polymer offering includes a new set of bio-based polyurethane dispersions for artificial leather. Sun Chemical provides solutions for skin, adhesive, and coagulation layers, and has developed a new polyester that can improve flexibility and gloss in multiple coatings applications. 

Also highlighted at the booth were DIC Corporation’s recently launched HYDRAN™ GP series of environment-friendly waterborne polyurethane resins. These new resins have a higher solid content than conventional water-based polyurethane resins and contain no amines, helping customers to shorten process times and reduce odors, in addition to limiting greenhouse gas emissions and volatile organic compounds (VOCs). The HYDRAN GP series is available globally and is suitable for a range of applications including artificial leather, coatings, and adhesives. 

In terms of additives, Sun Chemical offers a new cobalt-free and VOC-free drier, DICNATE MV-130A. It shows efficient drying at very low dosages, exhibits low dark yellowing, and has excellent compatibility with secondary driers, as well as matting agents and pigments.

High-Performance Polyurethanes

Through its acquisition of SAPICI, Sun Chemical offers a portfolio of extra-low free monomer (aromatic, mixed aromatic-aliphatic and aliphatic) polyisocyanates and prepolymers for a broad range of applications including: coatings, adhesives, sealants, elastomers, casting, inks, and more. 

The company also offers a wide range of water-based polyurethane and acrylic dispersions for every application, together with a complete range of water-dispersible low free monomer polyisocyanates to formulate 2K systems. Sun Chemical offers solutions for wood, metal, plastic, leather, water-proofing membranes, textiles, and more. Sun Chemical’s newest development in this space focuses on bio-based polyisocyanates for a safer and more sustainable future. 


Trinseo Launched Vinyl Acrylic Latex Binder

At the ACS, specialty materials solutions provider, Trinseo, announced the launch of LIGOS™ C 9484, a vinyl acrylic latex binder designed for architectural coatings. The product was introduced to the market alongside the company’s full portfolio of innovative latex binder solutions.

“LIGOS C 9484 is an essential addition to our extensive portfolio of all-acrylic, styrene acrylic, vinyl acrylic, and styrene butadiene latex binder formulations,” said Steven Lucas, Sales Director, CASE North America. “The emulsion is designed to meet rigorous performance requirements and supports customers who need a flexible binder formulation, ensuring that they can design a material that meets their specific needs.”

Designed for architectural coating applications, LIGOS C 9484 combines performance and flexibility. The emulsion delivers strong hiding performance, leveling properties, and excellent washability, making coatings applications extremely durable. LIGOS C 9484 also boasts high scrub resistance and allows for the easy touch-up of unwanted marks, scuffs, and scratches. Furthermore, the binder meets ASTM D4828-94 testing requirements and is easily cleaned when soiled with common household materials.

Moreover, the emulsion offers flexibility in formulation, allowing formulators to meet the needs of their most demanding coating applications. LIGOS C 9484 can be formulated across the PVC spectrum, including flat to semi-gloss finishes. Additionally, the formulation can include several different solvents, pigments, additives, and other raw materials to achieve a high-performing coating.

LIGOS C 9484 is part of the company’s portfolio of competitive, high-performance, and sustainable solutions. Optimized for coatings, adhesives, sealants and elastomer applications, these innovative solutions are designed to increase energy efficiency, prolong functional lifetime, and attain long-term durability.


Syensqo Exhibits Advanced Additives and Surfactants

Syensqo, formerly part of Solvay Group, showcased its advanced additives and surfactants portfolio. “Tighter regulations and increased consumer awareness and influence are driving the paints and coatings industry toward better, safer, and more sustainable formulations, particularly in waterborne coatings. Enabling these transitions while still meeting performance expectations creates numerous opportunities for novel additives," said Pierre Hennaux, Business Development Manager, Syensqo Coatings North America.

“Delivering on our mission to advance humanity with safe and eco-friendly products while maintaining high performance, we are proud to showcase our industry-leading additives and surfactants, custom-engineered for this market segment.”

At the ACS, Syensqo brought several new solutions to the market, starting with Rhodoline® HBR. This brand-new specialty additive—an alternative to fluorosurfactants used in coating formulations—has been developed to provide early hot block resistance to architectural paint on freshly coated surfaces.

Syensqo is also expanding its offer for improved metal adhesion with Addibond™ 106, a waterborne adhesion promoter that delivers significantly enhanced dry and wet bonding properties in metal coatings. Addibond 106 is free of alkylphenol ethoxylates (APE) and has very low levels of volatile organic compounds (VOCs). It can be very easily incorporated at any stage of the formulation in low active concentrations with little or no impact on other performance criteria, such as gloss, color, pH, or viscosity.

For improved coating adhesion on metals and inorganic surfaces, Syensqo introduced Sipomer® Mac, a new-generation specialty monomer designed to improve adhesion and provide excellent corrosion protection in direct-to-metal (DTM) formulations.

Also on display at the booth was Syensqo’s Reactsurf® 2490, an APE-free emulsifier for adhesives and coatings applications. Reactsurf 2490 helps formulators enhance water whitening resistance, while effectively improving dirt pick-up resistance (DPUR).


Vibrantz Unveiled Innovative Pigment and Dispersion Technology

The Vibrantz Color Solutions team showcased its expanded portfolio of products for paints and coatings, and unveiled the company’s latest innovations, including Pearls™ technology, and Cool Colors pigments and dispersions. 

Pearls technology is the coatings industry’s first and only volumetrically dosed tinting system of solid colorants designed for use in waterborne architectural and industrial applications. Highlights of this new product include: 

Sustainability

  • Biocide-free
  • 100% recyclable packaging

Reduced Waste

  • Extended shelf life compared to alternative technologies
  • Performance
  • Highly soluble
  • Superior tinting consistency
  • Accurately dispensed

Low Impact on Paint Properties

The company’s accurate, low-maintenance tinting concept is easy to use and saves money. The need for fewer additional additives minimizes the general impact on important properties of the end-use paint. At a store with low colorant consumption, solid colorants will not dry out, thicken or sediment, increasing shelf life substantially even after being in the dispenser. Due to their solid form and low dusting properties, Pearls are cleaner and more user-friendly than competing technologies, and the packaging is 100% recyclable.

Vibrantz’s “Cool Colors” are NIR-reflective pigments and dispersions designed to help lower heat absorption of building exteriors to improve energy efficiency. These products are proven to: 

  • Improve building efficiency by up to 20%; 
  • Reduce AC consumption, lowering energy bill costs; 
  • Increase the durability of exterior materials. 

In addition to exteriors, the cool colors are commonly used in coatings for roofs, walls, asphalt, and cement materials. As primary contact points with sunlight and heat, these materials are critical for implementing energy-efficient solutions in urban environments with hotter climates. 


WACKER Promoted Innovative Solutions for Paints and Coatings

Wacker Chemical Corporation showcased innovative solutions to enhance product performance in the paint and coatings industry.

“We are excited to be back for the start of the ACS 2024 and looking forward to showcasing our new polymers and silicone innovations,” said WACKER Chemical Corporation VP of Silicones Ian Moore.

“We are confident that our presence will profoundly illustrate our ability to convey WACKER’s value proposition,” said Mathias Wiedemann, WACKER's VP of Polymers.

WACKER showcased binders for high-temperature and high-solids coatings, silicone additives for silicate interior wall paints, dispersible polymer powders for interior architectural coatings, polymer dispersions for waterproofing architectural and industrial coatings, and a silicone resin binder for stone carpets.

Featured products included:

  • APEO-Free VINNAPAS® binder for architectural paint uses polymer binders to enhance two critical characteristics of all mortars and coatings: adhesion and flexibility. Increased adhesion and flexibility promote the quality of buildings and prolong their life expectancy while reducing material consumption.
  • VINNAPAS EF 8120 allows formulators to rethink their approach to raw materials in interior and exterior architectural applications by providing an extensive range of desirable properties, such as strong adhesion, high hydrophobicity, scrub and stain resistance, and low VOC values.
  • SILRES® IC 900 is a methyl-phenyl resin for high-temperature resistance and serves as a binder for unique applications, such as high dry film thickness (DFT) coatings (>100 µm). The resin allows for versatility in coating formulary and application, provides better corrosion protection, and is suitable for formulating more sustainable coatings.
  • SILRES M 51E is a fire-retardant methyl resin binder for high-temperature-resistant waterborne coatings, supporting the trend towards more environmentally friendly coatings. The resin has fast dry-to-touch time at room temperature, low smoke generation, and excellent chemical and scratch resistance.
  • SILRES BS additives boost the performance of silicate-based coatings—including paints and plasters—that fulfill the current demand for waterborne systems with very low VOC emissions, no odor or biocides, and excellent durability. With the SILRES BS product line, WACKER offers various additives for formulators’ needs, including improved water beading and drastically decreased water uptake. SILRES BS 338 also aids wetting and leveling for a very even, smooth coating and enhances the workability of the paint.
  • VINNOL® resins increase industrial coatings' durability and improve chemical stability, flexibility, and impact resistance. VINNOL provides protective properties, such as chemical and water resistance, and can promote adhesion. VINNOL L-6868 is the next generation of vinyl chloride-vinyl acetate copolymers. The resin is engineered to deliver solubility in an extensive range of solvents and provides compatibility with a wide range of UV monomers and reactive diluents.
  • NEXIVA® dispersible polymer powder looks beyond traditional architectural paint and into future applications. WACKER strives to pioneer the next generation in architectural paint technology. Consumer products like detergents and cleaning supplies are moving away from shipping water. WACKER asks—why can´t paint do the same? NEXIVA brings the potential to manufacture architectural wall paint in either liquid or powder form. These dispersible polymer powders allow the formulation of paints without adding biocides and offer vital advantages when storing and transporting paint.

During ACS, WACKER also presented high-performing silicone technology with similar properties to per- and poly-fluoroalkyl (PFAS) additives.


Wanhua Focused on Its Sustainability Message and Range of Products

With a robust industrial chain advantage and a diverse product portfolio, Wanhua Chemical is committed to delivering high-performance and stable quality material solutions to its customers. The company’s extensive range of sophisticated coating components includes aromatic and aliphatic isocyanates, waterborne polyurethane resins, and specialty amines. At the show, PCI interviewed Dr. Ding Hao, Wanhua's Director of Fine Chemicals. He discussed the company’s innovative products in the following segments:

Automotive 

Wannate® IPDI trimer products have the potential to improve quick-drying performance of automotive refinish paint. This could result in a reduction in energy consumption and an increase in production efficiency. The low-viscosity trimer series based on HDI provides formulators interesting crosslinker choices to formulate low-VOC formulations, and are suitable for application in automotive OEM coatings.

Construction 

Lacper® high-end outdoor wood paint products have a low VOC content and meet the EU KOMO test standards. These products also provide a long-lasting protective effect on outdoor wood. Archsol® high-end interior wall paint series are non-food source bio-based materials, and the bio-based content can reach as high as 50% (currently the highest proportion in the field of architectural coatings).

Packaging

Blocked IPDI trimer, as an ideal crosslinker for metal packaging coating, can increase safe use of metal packaging. Wantipro® barrier technology products facilitate rapid development of paper-based packaging solutions as an alternative to plastic and single-material packaging.

New Energy Segments

Wannate® HT-300 product is a unique HDI polyisocyanate with good flexibility. Customers start using this product as a crosslinker for thermal conductive adhesives in renewable battery packages. Wanamine® 8100 polyether amine is a new product the company launched to help manufacture larger wind turbine blades, as a epoxy resin curing agent. And Antkote® products offer good weather resistance and ultra-low VOC, targeting wind power and photovoltaic coatings.

When asked about general trends that Wanhua is seeing, Dr. Ding stated that the coatings industry is innovating in response to new environmental rules and a growing demand for sustainable products. In addition, companies worldwide are adapting, creating more durable coatings that are also cost-effective. “Sustainability and durability guide our industry’s innovations. I also see more and more eco-friendly and durable products at the ACS,” he said.

Wanhua has been advancing ESG-related initiatives for several years. As early as May 2016, Wanhua delivered a keynote speech as the sole invited Chinese company at the second United Nations Environmental Assembly. In 2019, Wanhua became the first Asian company to join the Together for Sustainability (TFS) organization. Wanhua Chemical commits to achieving carbon peaking no later than 2030, and strives for carbon neutrality by 2048. To achieve this, the company has outlined some core actions. For example,

Generating Electricity with No Carbon Emissions

Wanhua has achieved social increments in clean energy through joint ventures and partnerships. It has invested in a series of clean electricity projects, such as agrivoltaics and offshore wind power, with the overall goal of having clean electricity account for over 50% of all domestic production bases by 2030 and achieving full coverage by 2035.

Sensible Resource Utilization to Reduce Carbon Emissions

Waste heat recovery is a key initiative. Take the Hehai Project as an example, where Wanhua utilizes a globally pioneering technology in heat integrated energy utilization to recover low-temperature waste heat from industrial parks and process it into high-grade thermal energy for urban heating. By 2025, the company aims to cover all five districts of Yantai City, meeting the clean energy heating demand of nearly 79 million square meters. Upon completion, this project is expected to save approximately 2.6 million tons of coal and reduce CO2 emissions by 6.7 million tons annually.

Employing Innovation to Decrease Carbon Emissions

Through innovative optimization of facility processes, Wanhua has pioneered a globally unique process for the cyclic utilization of hydrogen chloride, enabling the recovery of by-product hydrochloric acid. This innovation equates to an annual reduction of approximately 700,000 tons of carbon dioxide. Additionally, the company’s groundbreaking technology for the cyclic use of waste brine from MDI production ensures that the waste brine fully meets the requirements for ion membrane electrolysis water. This results in an annual reduction of over 140,000 tons of carbon dioxide emissions.

When asked what some of the most common customer requests that Wanhua receives are, Dr. Ding stated, “Over the years, we have developed close partnerships with our global coating customers, who possess a deep understanding of their market needs. Our products are designed to meet these demands, featuring lower carbon footprints and bio-based raw materials. Additionally, our products enable formulators to reduce VOC emissions and ensure end users can safely utilize coating products.

In terms of Wanhua itself, we've been continuously investing in green environmental protection, energy conservation, emission reduction, and efficiency improvement to meet increasingly higher standards and requirements for sustainable development. From the outset of developing coating resins, Wanhua has prioritized the environmental friendliness and high performance of its products. Whether it's the development of water-based polyurethane (PUD), water-based acrylic resins, water-based PUA, water-based UV, or systems with high solids content/zero solvents/low free, it all reflects the harmonious unity of performance and environmental protection.”

In terms of products, Wanhua has a complete portfolio of waterborne products covering all categories of coatings for both civil and industrial use, significantly reducing the content of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) in coating formulations without sacrificing properties. And for bio-based systems, the company has developed over 10 emulsion products including high-end interior wall coatings, wood coatings, and synthetic leather coatings, all incorporating non-food source bio-based materials. The highest bio-based content can reach 80% (waterborne synthetic leather system), effectively reducing the carbon footprint of coating production processes.


Westlake Epoxy Introduced New Lower-Yellowing Epoxy Products

Westlake Corporation launched several new lower-yellowing epoxy products at the ACS. The deep-pour, lower-yellowing epoxy system is Epoxy Research Resin RSL-4710 combined with Research Curing Agent RSC-4731. This two-component epoxy/amine system is formulated for extended set time and lower exotherm temperature. The system offers superior air release and improved color retention, even in direct sunlight.

“The deep-pour, lower-yellowing epoxy system offers easier use, enabling up to 4-inch pours in a single application,” said Dan Weinmann, Business Development Manager—Epoxy, Americas. “This system does not use additives to improve yellowing resistance. The resin and curing agent combination have improved light stability built into the cured epoxy thermoset backbone.”

Westlake Epoxy also promoted an ultra-low-yellowing cycloaliphatic amine curing agent for decorative floor coatings. Curing Agent RSC-4729 provides superior yellowing resistance and improved gloss retention when used with standard Bis-A or Bis-F epoxy resins. For better performance, use RSC-4729 with an aliphatic epoxy resin (e.g., EPONEX™ Resin 1510). In a clear enamel, after 600 hours of QUV-A exposure, the aliphatic epoxy system gave Delta E of 6 units and gloss retention greater than 85% (measured at 60-degree gloss).