HANKO, Finland - Rohm and Haas’s Jörgen Lindholm, Manager, R&D and Technical Service, FINNDISP Division, will present recent technical findings in a paper titled, “A Waterborne Acrylic Binder for Industrial Furniture Lacquers with Unique Properties” at the Advances in Coatings Technology Conference (ACT’08) in Warsaw, Poland, from Nov. 25-27. One of the key issues currently facing European furniture manufacturers is to answer to the EC Directive on the limitation of emission of VOCs while maintaining high coatings performance at competitive market pricing. Rohm and Haas is now helping customers meet this EEC Directive with its waterborne acrylic binders for wood application.

 

“This is an important event in Central Europe,” explains Lindholm. “As a global specialty materials provider, Rohm and Haas can demonstrate to conference attendees - which include representatives from paint-producing companies and the coating industry, other material suppliers, universities and research institutes - that the company is committed to and is actively involved in developing innovative, environmentally advanced solutions. The conference offers us an excellent opportunity to introduce this technology to potential customers in attendance from Poland, a major manufacturing center for the furniture industry, as well as key suppliers to furniture companies located in other EU and non-EU countries.”

 

“The main focus for this new product development effort has been fulfilling the requirements of the furniture industry. However, this waterborne acrylic binder is well suited to other paint and coatings products and is expected to also fit well into the do-it-yourself (DIY) products market,” says Lindholm. “This technology contributes to shorter drying times, improved blocking and mechanical properties, resistance against chemicals, dry and wet-heat resistance combined with wet and dry-film appearance, all of which are important attributes for DIY paint and coatings products.” Rohm and Haas has been able to meet these requirements with an optimized morphology, chemical composition and an inherent ambient self-crosslinking mechanism.

 

Another important topic Lindholm will discuss in his presentation is the importance of raw materials selection when formulating lacquers to maintain the desired end-use properties.

 

Also presenting at the conference with a paper entitled “The increasing need of film fungicides and algicides for exterior coatings in the Polish market” is Paul Wood, Technical Support Manager, Process Chemicals and Biocides. These days, consumers demand high-quality coatings that will help them repaint less frequently. Simultaneously, climate change and cleaner air with less pollution is leading to increasing colonisation of all surfaces by microorganisms such as fungi, algae and lichens. To limit their growth, surface coating producers need to include film fungicides and algicides in their exterior coatings. Paul Wood states, “It is important for them to choose the most suitable fungicide/algicide and its optimum dosage. This requires not only knowledge of microorganisms but also which type of organisms are involved, and also knowledge of the material to be protected, its intended final use and its expected duration of use. At Rohm and Haas our team will help you choose the most appropriate ROCIMA™ biocide.”