Hundreds of coatings industry professionals will gather this month in Lombard, Illinois, for Coatings Trends & Technologies (CTT), a twoday educational conference and show designed to provide chemists, formulators and R&D personnel with the latest coatings research and emerging trends. One hundred raw material, equipment and service suppliers will be exhibiting at this year’s event. Below is a sampling of what some of the companies will be showcasing.

NatureWorks is an advanced materials company with a broad portfolio of renewably sourced polymers and chemicals. Creating performance through chemistry, Vercet™ lactide-based solutions help innovators realize significant, measurable performance and cost advantages in products such as CASE (coatings, adhesives, sealants and elastomers), toners and surfactants. At CTT, the company will be promoting lactide-based resins for coatings and polyols for urethane coating chemistries. These chemistries offer unique properties to both the performance of coatings and the R&D process.

Troy Corp. will be featuring advanced Polyphase®, Fungitrol® and Troysan® dry-film preservatives, along with Mergal® and Nuosept® wet-state preservatives, multifunctional performance additives, and metal carboxylates. The company’s products are backed by expert technical service and regulatory support.

Vitro Minerals will be exhibiting engineered glass powder functional fillers and extenders produced from clean, post-industrial glass feedstocks. The glass powders are used to enhance performance in a wide range of paints, coatings, plastics and adhesives. A functional and green solution, these products contain no free crystalline silica. X-ray diffraction and scanning electron microscopy confirm that the calcium aluminosilicate powders are fully amorphous. Relative chemical inertness improves resistance to blooming, blistering or chemical degradation in harsh environments. These minus 325 mesh powders have low oil absorption and are easily dispersed in water- or solventbased systems. High consistent brightness, tint retention and stain/ scrub resistance can be achieved in most paint and coating systems. Production feedstocks are certified post-industrial, and are free from contaminants associated with post-consumer curbside glass.

German manufacturer, ystral, has developed a completely novel way of production, whereby the YSTRAL Conti-TDS inline dispersing machines have started to displace traditional high-speed dissolvers for lacquer, paint and printing ink production.

Manufacturing decorative paints, industrial coatings, coil coatings, automotive lacquers, printing inks or even adhesives, requires large amounts of powders to be dispersed into liquids. In most cases, this process requires high effort, is time consuming and usually dusty. With this new technology, pigments, fillers, thickeners and other powders can be inducted, fast, dust free and from any container into the base liquids.

The results are highest-quality dispersions with proven and significant potential savings in raw materials, production time, floor space, labor and energy consumption. For example, an YSTRAL Conti-TDS can produce 10MT of decorative emulsion at 50% solids in 15 to 30 minutes. For the production of colorants and tinting pastes, the subsequent bead milling process can typically be reduced from 30% to 70% or, in some cases, it can even be eliminated completely, depending on pigment and formulation.

View the exhibits in our Online Exhibits section.