The 2016 American Coatings Show and Conference will take place April 11-14, at the Indiana Convention Center in Indianapolis. Below is a sampling of some of the technology that will be on display at the show. Look for much more coverage of the ACS in PCI's daily show eNewsletter.

Dow Expands Boundaries

The Dow Chemical Company is answering the dynamic needs of coatings formulators, manufacturers, regulators and applicators with the latest innovations to help solve their most critical challenges at ACS booth 2230. Technical experts from several Dow businesses – Dow Coating Materials, Dow Construction Chemicals, Dow Microbial Control and Dow Polyurethanes – will present how their technologies are helping customers expand the boundaries of coatings’ performance characteristics, application properties and even the markets they can serve.

“We’re looking forward to demonstrating how our teams can help attendees meet and exceed their customers’ expectations today and in the future – from technology that holds up under harsher conditions to products that help them meet more significant demands from consumers, contractors and regulators without compromising performance,” said Sylvia Insogna, North America Marketing Director, Dow Coating Materials.

Featured technologies recently recognized as industry-leading innovations include: 

• TERAFORCE™ technology, a 2015 R&D 100 Award winner that transformed oil productivity in hydraulic fracturing as the first polyurethane resin-coated proppant.
• ACRYSOL™ RM-725 rheology modifier, a 2015 R&D 100 Award-winning hydrophobically modified ethylene oxide urethane that optimizes hiding and touch-up performance in architectural coatings. When combined with recently introduced ROVACE™ 10 vinyl acrylic emulsion, a low-VOC binder offering broad shear stability and formulation flexibility, ACRYSOL™ RM-725 rheology modifier can amplify binder performance to help meet the evolving needs of formulators, applicators and specifiers.

Several new low-VOC rheology modifiers that are manufactured without solvents and surfactants will also launch at the show to address performance and application property concerns from formulators and contractors.

An extensive spectrum of Dow’s impactful industry solutions will also be highlighted at the show, including:

• MAINCOTE™ AEH resin for waterborne two-component (2K) concrete coatings that require high performance, excellent tire pickup resistance and ultralow-VOC capabilities.
• MAINCOTE 4950 resin and AVANSE™ 200 acrylic binders offering excellent performance with an improved sustainability profile for direct-to-metal commercial and industrial applications.
• CENTURION™ acrylic binder, a crosslinking technology offering world-class performance for roof coatings under ponded water.
• VORAPEL™ polyols, an alternative solution to highly viscous hydroxyl-terminated polybutadiene resins.
• PARALOID™ Edge technology, manufactured without isocyanate, a first in solventborne 2K urethane technology for industrial wood applications.
• VORASPEC™ 58 toughening agent.
• BIOBAN™ 200 antimicrobial and ROZONE™ 2000 mildewcide, high-performance, cost-effective dry film preservatives based on ultralow leaching dichlorooctylisothiazolinone technology.
• RHOPLEX 800h binder for improved hardness, tack, block, print and scrape resistance in low-VOC, binder-rich, highly colored architectural paints.

Emerald Showcases Several New Technologies

Emerald Performance Materials will showcase several new technologies at booth 2755. “The ACS is an excellent venue for us to make an impression on the entire industry and showcase our full range of products and latest developments to bring value to a wide range of architectural and industrial coatings,” said Julie Vaughn Biege, VP Marketing and Business Development. “Our full commercial and technical teams from across the company will be on hand to connect with existing customers, as well as meet new customers who are continuing to try to push the performance envelope or who are looking for some creative and value-added solutions to address specific issues.”

In particular, Emerald will feature new developments surrounding high-performance resins and additives to solve common formulating challenges for “A Flawless Finish,” the booth theme this year. New innovations such as Lucida Colors™ IJ self-dispersed pigment dispersions, Masil^®Ultra SL1000 slip-mar additive for printing/packaging, and Nychem^®1561X604 latex will be highlighted, plus Hypro^®100% reactive liquid polymers for pipeline coatings, -multifunctional epoxy resins and modifiers, defoamers and low-VOC coalescents for an expanding range of applications.

“Coalescents are additives that can deliver much more to coatings than just aiding in film formation; by creating a stronger, better coalesced film, the right coalescent has the potential to unlock next-level performance, enhancing properties such as gloss, scrub, block and freeze-thaw characteristics, which are crucial watersheds for elevating a paint or coating to a high-performance formulation.” said Wendy Herbst, Global Marketing Director for the K-Flex^® line of benzoate coalescents and plasticizers.

Herbst continued, “The K-Flex line has grown significantly over the last five years, based on successes with new products that have been specifically tailored for paints and coatings, such as K-Flex 975P, 850S and 500P. These products have been optimized to enhance those key properties that are especially important in interior applications.” According to Herbst, a focus at ACS will be new data showing how these materials are used in new areas.

Another of the Emerald business groups, CVC Thermoset Specialties, will showcase a growing product line that includes a wide range of specialty epoxies to further enhance chemical resistance over standard LERs and a range of other modifiers.

The business will also feature ERISYS^® reactive modifiers and other formulating ingredients, such as Omicure^® urea catalysts to enhance durability, impact and chip resistance, critical needs for  industrial and automotive applications, and Epalloy^® 7200 for rapid and low-temperature cure, tetrafunctional epoxies as polyfunctional aziridine (PFAZ) replacements, and a range of materials for companies seeking alternatives to bisphenol A.

Emerald Specialties Group will showcase its newest product, Masil Ultra SL1000 modified silicone, a zero-VOC, water-based additive optimized to deliver enhanced slip/mar/scratch resistance for coatings and OPVs, particularly in food packaging applications. (The product has broad indirect food contact clearances and is formulated free of ingredients on the California Proposition 65 list.)

An additional new product is Nychem^® 1561X604, a medium-nitrile-level specialty emulsion, launched by the Emerald Specialty Polymers business group. Based on butadiene, acrylonitrile and styrene, it has been designed with low/no emulsifier levels. This high-surface-tension latex exhibits low foam and greatly enhances tensile strength while providing other key benefits such as high elongation, abrasion resistance and superior resistance to water, oil, grease and hydrocarbons.

Evonik Approaches Problems with Creative Solutions

With the ‘One Partner. Many Experts.’ concept, Evonik will emphasize its philosophy by approaching its customers’ problems with creative solutions at the ACS. The company’s team of experts will share insights on industry trends and present innovative coatings products and solutions for surface modification, interface control and functional polymer design at booth 2728.

“The American Coatings Show is the most important tradeshow for coatings and adhesives in the U.S.,” says Dr. Juergen Loroesch, Head of the Paint & Coatings Industry Team. “For Evonik, this means a large number of customers and prospects visiting our booth to discuss technical and commercial challenges, exchanging views on new products, or getting firsthand information about our range of applications and products.”

Products featured include:

• VESTANAT^® EP-M - a range of silane-urethane hybrid crosslinkers designed to generate multifunctional, scratch-resistant coatings usable on a variety of substrates.
• VESTAGON^® EP-B 1190 - a crosslinker designed to formulate polyurethane powder coatings for direct food contact. The highly functional blocked PU crosslinker exhibits excellent chemical and sterilization resistance due to its chemical composition.
• DYNAPOL^® polyesters - used as essential ingredients in many flexible packaging applications, e.g. foil primer, pre-print primer, printing ink, overprint varnish, foil coatings, heat-seal lacquers and interlayer. These products are BPA-NI and PVC-free, and offer excellent adhesion to a variety of different film substrates made of aluminum, PET, PC and PA.
• SILIKOPHEN^®AC 950 -ambient-cure technology that eliminates the use of ovens and enables painted objects to be touched, packaged or exposed to the effects of water (rain, fog) a short time after the coating is applied.
• Matting agents for low-VOC coatings – ACEMATT^® 3600 special-purpose matting agent, particularly suitable for use in very thin or very thick 100%-UV coatings; ACEMATT 3300 with organic surface treatment, particularly suitable for water-based coatings and waterborne UV coatings; and ACEMATT OK 520 with organic surface treatment, particularly suitable for water-based coatings.
• VISIOMER^® 6976 - specialty methacrylate monomer formulation offering post-curing via UV or daylight. Coatings resins with VISIOMER 6976 can be applied with low film formation temperature and will increase blocking and chemical resistance by post-curing.

Clariant to Highlight Sustainable and Innovative Products

Specialty chemicals leader, Clariant, will feature sustainable and innovative products for a wide range of applications in the automotive, decorative and industrial coatings industries at booth 1367. Key products and solutions featured at the ACS include:

• High-performance quinacridone pigments for automotive, industrial and decorative coatings, based on renewable biosuccinic acid and micronized waxes based on polysaccharide from renewable sources.
• Easily Dispersible (ED) Pigments, Exolit^® AP halogen-free flame retardant additives for construction applications, Ceridust^® micronized waxes for wood coatings, Emulsogen^® LCN 287 nonionic emulsifiers, and Dispersogen^® PL 30 and Genapol^® ED 3060 dispersing agents that hold the EcoTain sustainability label.
• Several highly concentrated light stabilizer dispersions in the Hostavin^®range for waterborne coatings, and a wide range of pigment dispersions that offer low-VOC attributes, infrared-reflective properties and supertransparent tinting solutions, including dispersions in the Hostatint^®UV range. The Hostatint UV range is developed for 100-percent UV coating systems.

ystral Exhibits a New Way of Production

German manufacturer ystral GmbH offers a completely different way of production at booth 2177. This company’s inline dispersing machines have started to displace high-speed dissolvers in lacquer, paint and printing ink production. Whether you manufacture decorative paints, industrial coatings, coil coatings, automotive lacquers or printing inks, large amounts of powders have to be dispersed into liquids. In many cases this process takes much effort; it is time consuming and dusty. With ystral Conti-TDS-Technology, pigments, fillers, thickeners and other powders can be inducted dust free and from any container into liquids.

The results are high-quality dispersions and solutions with proven and significant savings in raw material consumption, production time, floor space and energy. For example, you can produce 10MT of decorative emulsion at 50% solids in 15 to 30 min. For pigment pastes, additional bead milling can be reduced from 30% to 70%, or can even be removed completely depending on pigment and formulation.

These results can be achieved by the combination of five processing steps in one machine while maintaining constant production parameters - emptying of bags and containers, powder transport, powder incorporation, and finally wetting and dispersing under vacuum.

Independent from the viscosity, type of vessel and batch size, stable suspensions and solutions may be produced in a fraction of the time required by conventional mixing and dispersing systems.   

You can find full information, tweets and the latest news from both the conference and show at www.pcimag.com/american-coatings-show. Check back regularly for updates!