Arkema unveils innovative, bio-renewable and lower carbon footprint solutions at Abrafati 2023
 

For the world to change, the materials we use must evolve. To move toward a circular economy and reduce the impact of goods & services on the climate and the environment, we need to address both how products are designed & how they enable more sustainable performance in use. In the design phase, one of the levers we can use is to replace virgin fossil feedstocks with sources from biomass or recycled origins. This talk will review the major trends in coatings sustainable development with a focus on the evolving landscape for resins and additives based on these alternative feedstocks.

Water-borne acrylic latexes are one of the most preferred technology to tend to low VOC, more durable and more sustainable solutions for several markets including architectural coatings for exterior walls and wood applications. When compared with solvent-borne coatings, these systems exhibit less adhesion to some substrates, less mechanical and chemical resistance, and greater sensitivity to water. Exposure to water can result in blistering, discoloration, blushing or softening of the films.
For this reason, water resistance is one of the most important requirements for coatings applications. As the binder is a major part of most coatings, current research works aimed to design binders with good barrier performance by reducing the use of hydrophilic species and increasing hydrophobicity of polymers. Several tests have been developed to assess water sensitivity of binders. In this study, we will see different tests used to determine the water resistance of waterborne binders and how we can combine them to better characterize the sensibility to water.

The need for more sustainable solutions becomes key for our industry in order to reduce further its impact on the environment and minimize the carbon footprint of our products.
Arkema has set strong and ambitious initiatives in order to achieve the recently approved 1.5 °C SBT objectives. As a consequence, most of our new additive’s developments are proposing even more eco-friendly features. In this paper, we will show performance of two new bio-based solutions in the field of polyurethane thickeners for waterborne coatings and adhesives.
Such thickeners are well appreciated in water-based formulations to improve in can feel and superior application properties with reduced spattering and sagging and improved film build and leveling due to their specific rheology profile from Newtonian to pseudo plastic.
These two Newtonian (High-Shear) and balanced (Mid-Shear) thickeners are new sustainable tools to develop bio-based decorative and industrial paints and coatings.