What trends are evident in emulsion paints ?
For ecological reasons there is hardly a surface coating resin on the market today which cannot be used in emulsion paints. Important examples include polyacrylates and copolymers of methacrylic acid esters and styrene, butadiene copolymers with acrylic acid esters, acrylonitrile and styrene, polyvinyl chloride copolymers with vinyl ethers and acrylates, plasticised polyvinyl acetate and vinyl acetate copolymers with maleic acid esters, olefins and others, polyvinyl propionate, silicone-modified systems, polyurethanes and a whole range of other polymers.
Recent developments aim to vary the particle size so that different emulsions can be produced which are suitable for a variety af applications. Extremely fine particle emulsions, for example, anable paints with high penetration power to be formulated, especially for impregnating exterior walls.
A number of other properties, which untul now were not always satisfactory, have now been greatly improved, e.g. shelf life, gloss retention and corrosion protection. there has also been and interesting development trend in the case of non-aqueous dispersions incorporating aliphatic substances in the resin dispersion. So far, however, these products are only used for speciality application in the motor industry.
