Formulating Latex Paint with Velate 368 Coalescent
Over the years, new coalescents have been introduced to the coatings industry to address performance or economic needs. In particular, these materials have offered improved odor characteristics or imparted greater efficiencies than the most commonly used latex coating coalescent, 2,2,4-trimethyl-1,3-pentanediol monoisobutyrate (TMB).1
When introduced, new coalescents are normally tested as a one for one replacement for the existing coalescent. Generally, no other formulation changes are made in a preliminary screen. This is a proper approach for a first pass. The new coalescent (or virtually any new raw material) must demonstrate at least acceptable performance under that constraint. However, new raw materials will often require "fine tuning" of the formulation for optimum performance to realize gains and improvements over existing art.