Is There A Correlation Between Contact Angle And Stain Repellency?

Abstract
Architectural coatings are becoming increasingly robust as we move into the 21st century.  Consumers demand that coatings be more stain repellent or easy-to-clean.  To meet this demand, paint companies advertise highly cleanable, stain repellent paints.  Many people believe that if a material beads on a surface, it will either not stain or the stain will be easy to remove.  In some instances, stain repellency or ease of cleaning may occur; however, there are times when beading will concentrate the stain in a small area, making the stain more noticeable or harder to remove.

Three basic starting point interior flat paint formulations were used in this study.Various binder chemistries were used including all-acrylic, vinyl-acrylic, and ethylene-vinyl acetate.  Additionally, 18 commercial paints were also evaluated.  Four different stain repellent additives were included (either included in the formulated paints or post-added to the commercial paints).  The stain repellent materials were added to approximately 80% of these samples to increase stain repellency performance variabili