Kerry Pianoforte, Editor03.25.15
The American Coatings Association (ACA) held its CoatingsTech Conference March 9-11 at the Marriott Louisville Downtown, Louisville, Kentucky. The theme of this year’s event was Focus: Innovation! Infrastructure! Efficiency! The conference highlighted the latest technologies and trends in the coatings world and showed practical applications. Leading the conference was two Technology Short Courses. In addition, tabletop exhibits held during the event featured displays of the most recent innovations in products and services offered to the industry. The conference consisted of eight separate tracks: polyurethanes, test methods, industrial coatings, novel technologies, end users, architectural coatings, rheology and titanium dioxide/pigments.
The conference commenced with a Keynote Address from Rigoberto Advincula of CASE Western Reserve University, who presented a talk entitled “Innovation Through Nanostructured and Templated Coatings.” Smart coatings are developed through intelligent design, material choices and control of film formation. “The demand for high performance coatings and innovation in the industry necessitates new ways of harnessing control all the way to the molecular level,” Advincula stated. In his talk he addressed approaches towards smart coatings through nanostructuring and templating ultrathin films and coatings, enabling new functionality from several design principles that can be applicable to commercial coatings. “These coatings include superhydrophobic coatings, anti-bacterail coatings, oil-water separation and sensors,” he added. “The Advincula Research Group through the years have focused on a bottom-up approach in the design of new coating materials that utilize innovative chemistry and surface characterization tools.”
Highlights of this event included The Technical Focus Lecture, Mattiello Lecture and Mattiello Symposium.
The Technical Focus Lecture, “Graphene Functional Properties and Their Application in Resins, Plastics and Elastomers,” was presented by Greg Smith of Cabot Corp. His lecture included examples of how graphenes can be utilized in coatings applications to deliver mechanical reinforcement, electrical, thermal and other functional properties. Graphene technologies were discussed generally, aspects of post-processing graphenes materials and toxicology of these materials was also discussed.
The Mattiello Lecture, “Solid State Lighting and its Impact on the Marketing and Production of Decorative Coatings,” was presented by Danny Rich of Sun Chemical Corporation. Solid state lighting in the form of light emitting diode lamps (LED) is quickly taking over as replacements for existing lower efficiency lamps. Current lighting standard, which phased in from 2012-2014, do not ban incandescent or any specific lamp type, but they do require that lamps need to use approximately 25 percent less energy.
“Many commercial lamps meet these new standards, including halogen, incandescent filament, CFLs and LEDs,” said Rich. “The new bulbs provide a wide range of choices in color and brightness, and many of them last much longer than traditional lamps.”
One problem Rich identified with these new bulbs is that the spectral distribution of flux from some of these new lamps do not match or even correspond to the spectral power distribution of traditional office and home lighting. Rich’s talk focused on the impact of the new lamp lights on the design, marketing and production of modern decorative coatings.
“The decorative coatings industry has followed recommend guidelines for many decades, producing color matches that are acceptable under a series of standard illuminants that are representative of the lamp lights in most common facilities,” said Rich. “The new solid state lamps do no render object colors in ways similar to the currently adopted standard illuminants. The primary obstacle to coatings manufacturers is the lack of standards on how to test color matches for quality conformance under the new lamp lights. “
“As the energy efficient lighting industry is currently still in a technologically developing phase, it seems that it will be some time before any agreements on the characteristics of modern lamp light will be reached,” he added. “Guidance will be provided on creating and/or using illuminant data representative of these lamps until standards are published.”
The two Mattiello Symposium presenters were Yoshi Ohno, National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) who presented “Color Characteristics of Solid State Lighting Products and Metrology Issues” and Loren Whitehead, University of British Columbia who presented “Understanding the Impact of LED Lights on Color.”
Other key presentations included Amanda Andrews of Wacker Chemical Corp., who presented “Silicones Positive Influences on Exterior Coatings.”
Innovative technologies have increased durability, and the lifespan of an exterior coating film. “With that said, for exterior coating applications, dirt continues to destroy the appearance of coatings; which can down grade a consumer’s approval of the paint,” said Andrews. “Silicones have inherent water repellent properties that increase the films lifespan in addition to improving the dirt repellency. Thus silicones increase a consumer’s approval for purchasing, applying, and admiring their coated objects. This paper focuses on outdoor exposure testing that verifies the benefits of silicone in architectural coating applications.”
Andrews said the increase in home remodeling and improvements have spurred the growth of, architectural coatings.
“Consumers rely on the exterior coating to have excellent weather resistance, long term durability and UV protection that can last on average twenty plus years,” said Andews. “Consumers desire coatings to have a ‘clean’ appearance that will decrease the amount of cleaning the consumer needs to do to maintain the appearance over the years. Self-cleaning and dirt resistance have become hot topics. It is not like dirt repellency has always been important but in the current climate, it is now extremely crucial. Paint suppliers are hungry for marketing data, exterior testing, proof of concept on how to increase the dirt repellency of coatings, and sell their paint as the best dirt repellant technology. Silicones provide water resistant properties which reduces the moisture content at the surface. This will increases dirt repellency. “
Andrews discussed the chemistry of silicones, multiple silicone technologies used in various paint formulations and the results of outdoor exposure testing with natural dirt collection.
“High Efficiency Sag Control Materials” was presented by Michael Gessner of Nuplex Resins.
“Novel Sag Control Agents (SCAs) have been developed based on chiral amines, which are very efficient and are also able to suppress telegraphed roughness from the substrate, said Gessner.His presentation covered the morphology, film flow and leveling, sag resistance, and appearance properties of these novel SCAs.
Mei Wen, research associate at Axalta Coating Systems presented “Micro-hardness Testing of Automotive Coatings.” Wen’s presentation showcased a micro-hardness testing methodology developed by Axalta in collaboration with the Institute of Macromolecular Chemistry of the Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic (IMC Prague).
Fast-drying coatings are desired for increasing productivity in both automotive manufacturing and aftermarket repairs. It’s often a challenge to understand changes in coatings properties during the drying and curing processes, but this understanding is critical for developing fast-drying coatings. Axalta and the IMC team developed the new micro-hardness testing methodology, based on instrumented indentation testing.
“With the micro-hardness testing methods, we can determine the hardness of a coating system at different stages of the drying and curing processes, and learn about its gradient as a function of depth into a coating layer,” explained Wen. “The hardness obtained is directly related to the coating system, particularly the curing, drying, network development, and glass transition temperature increase of clearcoats. This testing methodology was developed to allow us to quickly and easily evaluate productivity of various clearcoats on different basecoats, such as waterborne and solvent borne basecoats,” Dr. Wen added.
The confernce featured two awards. The Roon Award was given to “Alkali Soluble Resins and Acrylic Blends: Influence of ASR Distribution on Latex Film and Paint Properties” by Wenjun Wu of Arkema. The Gordon Award went to “Computational Design of Aerospace Coatings” by Erik Sapper, Boeing Research & Technology.
Upcoming ACA Events
The Coatings Regulations and Analytical Methods Conference will be held May 19-20 in Cleveland, Ohio. This conference will offer a forum for professionals concerned with coatings regulations and the analytical methods used for their development. The conference will provide an opportunity to meet with colleagues, establish new contacts and create new working relationships. For more info: www.paint.org.
ACA is a voluntary, nonprofit organization working to advance the needs of the paint and coatings industry and the professionals who work in it. Through advocacy of the industry and its positions on legislative, regulatory and judicial issues at the federal, state and local levels, it acts as an effective ally ensuring that the industry is represented and fairly considered. The association also devotes itself to advancing industry efforts with regard to product stewardship, through its signature Coatings Care resources and focuses on advancements in science and technology through the its technical conferences and journals, as well as online training opportunities. For further information go to www.paint.org.
The conference commenced with a Keynote Address from Rigoberto Advincula of CASE Western Reserve University, who presented a talk entitled “Innovation Through Nanostructured and Templated Coatings.” Smart coatings are developed through intelligent design, material choices and control of film formation. “The demand for high performance coatings and innovation in the industry necessitates new ways of harnessing control all the way to the molecular level,” Advincula stated. In his talk he addressed approaches towards smart coatings through nanostructuring and templating ultrathin films and coatings, enabling new functionality from several design principles that can be applicable to commercial coatings. “These coatings include superhydrophobic coatings, anti-bacterail coatings, oil-water separation and sensors,” he added. “The Advincula Research Group through the years have focused on a bottom-up approach in the design of new coating materials that utilize innovative chemistry and surface characterization tools.”
Highlights of this event included The Technical Focus Lecture, Mattiello Lecture and Mattiello Symposium.
The Technical Focus Lecture, “Graphene Functional Properties and Their Application in Resins, Plastics and Elastomers,” was presented by Greg Smith of Cabot Corp. His lecture included examples of how graphenes can be utilized in coatings applications to deliver mechanical reinforcement, electrical, thermal and other functional properties. Graphene technologies were discussed generally, aspects of post-processing graphenes materials and toxicology of these materials was also discussed.
The Mattiello Lecture, “Solid State Lighting and its Impact on the Marketing and Production of Decorative Coatings,” was presented by Danny Rich of Sun Chemical Corporation. Solid state lighting in the form of light emitting diode lamps (LED) is quickly taking over as replacements for existing lower efficiency lamps. Current lighting standard, which phased in from 2012-2014, do not ban incandescent or any specific lamp type, but they do require that lamps need to use approximately 25 percent less energy.
“Many commercial lamps meet these new standards, including halogen, incandescent filament, CFLs and LEDs,” said Rich. “The new bulbs provide a wide range of choices in color and brightness, and many of them last much longer than traditional lamps.”
One problem Rich identified with these new bulbs is that the spectral distribution of flux from some of these new lamps do not match or even correspond to the spectral power distribution of traditional office and home lighting. Rich’s talk focused on the impact of the new lamp lights on the design, marketing and production of modern decorative coatings.
“The decorative coatings industry has followed recommend guidelines for many decades, producing color matches that are acceptable under a series of standard illuminants that are representative of the lamp lights in most common facilities,” said Rich. “The new solid state lamps do no render object colors in ways similar to the currently adopted standard illuminants. The primary obstacle to coatings manufacturers is the lack of standards on how to test color matches for quality conformance under the new lamp lights. “
“As the energy efficient lighting industry is currently still in a technologically developing phase, it seems that it will be some time before any agreements on the characteristics of modern lamp light will be reached,” he added. “Guidance will be provided on creating and/or using illuminant data representative of these lamps until standards are published.”
The two Mattiello Symposium presenters were Yoshi Ohno, National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) who presented “Color Characteristics of Solid State Lighting Products and Metrology Issues” and Loren Whitehead, University of British Columbia who presented “Understanding the Impact of LED Lights on Color.”
Other key presentations included Amanda Andrews of Wacker Chemical Corp., who presented “Silicones Positive Influences on Exterior Coatings.”
Innovative technologies have increased durability, and the lifespan of an exterior coating film. “With that said, for exterior coating applications, dirt continues to destroy the appearance of coatings; which can down grade a consumer’s approval of the paint,” said Andrews. “Silicones have inherent water repellent properties that increase the films lifespan in addition to improving the dirt repellency. Thus silicones increase a consumer’s approval for purchasing, applying, and admiring their coated objects. This paper focuses on outdoor exposure testing that verifies the benefits of silicone in architectural coating applications.”
Andrews said the increase in home remodeling and improvements have spurred the growth of, architectural coatings.
“Consumers rely on the exterior coating to have excellent weather resistance, long term durability and UV protection that can last on average twenty plus years,” said Andews. “Consumers desire coatings to have a ‘clean’ appearance that will decrease the amount of cleaning the consumer needs to do to maintain the appearance over the years. Self-cleaning and dirt resistance have become hot topics. It is not like dirt repellency has always been important but in the current climate, it is now extremely crucial. Paint suppliers are hungry for marketing data, exterior testing, proof of concept on how to increase the dirt repellency of coatings, and sell their paint as the best dirt repellant technology. Silicones provide water resistant properties which reduces the moisture content at the surface. This will increases dirt repellency. “
Andrews discussed the chemistry of silicones, multiple silicone technologies used in various paint formulations and the results of outdoor exposure testing with natural dirt collection.
“High Efficiency Sag Control Materials” was presented by Michael Gessner of Nuplex Resins.
“Novel Sag Control Agents (SCAs) have been developed based on chiral amines, which are very efficient and are also able to suppress telegraphed roughness from the substrate, said Gessner.His presentation covered the morphology, film flow and leveling, sag resistance, and appearance properties of these novel SCAs.
Mei Wen, research associate at Axalta Coating Systems presented “Micro-hardness Testing of Automotive Coatings.” Wen’s presentation showcased a micro-hardness testing methodology developed by Axalta in collaboration with the Institute of Macromolecular Chemistry of the Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic (IMC Prague).
Fast-drying coatings are desired for increasing productivity in both automotive manufacturing and aftermarket repairs. It’s often a challenge to understand changes in coatings properties during the drying and curing processes, but this understanding is critical for developing fast-drying coatings. Axalta and the IMC team developed the new micro-hardness testing methodology, based on instrumented indentation testing.
“With the micro-hardness testing methods, we can determine the hardness of a coating system at different stages of the drying and curing processes, and learn about its gradient as a function of depth into a coating layer,” explained Wen. “The hardness obtained is directly related to the coating system, particularly the curing, drying, network development, and glass transition temperature increase of clearcoats. This testing methodology was developed to allow us to quickly and easily evaluate productivity of various clearcoats on different basecoats, such as waterborne and solvent borne basecoats,” Dr. Wen added.
The confernce featured two awards. The Roon Award was given to “Alkali Soluble Resins and Acrylic Blends: Influence of ASR Distribution on Latex Film and Paint Properties” by Wenjun Wu of Arkema. The Gordon Award went to “Computational Design of Aerospace Coatings” by Erik Sapper, Boeing Research & Technology.
Upcoming ACA Events
The Coatings Regulations and Analytical Methods Conference will be held May 19-20 in Cleveland, Ohio. This conference will offer a forum for professionals concerned with coatings regulations and the analytical methods used for their development. The conference will provide an opportunity to meet with colleagues, establish new contacts and create new working relationships. For more info: www.paint.org.
ACA is a voluntary, nonprofit organization working to advance the needs of the paint and coatings industry and the professionals who work in it. Through advocacy of the industry and its positions on legislative, regulatory and judicial issues at the federal, state and local levels, it acts as an effective ally ensuring that the industry is represented and fairly considered. The association also devotes itself to advancing industry efforts with regard to product stewardship, through its signature Coatings Care resources and focuses on advancements in science and technology through the its technical conferences and journals, as well as online training opportunities. For further information go to www.paint.org.
