This article discusses the role of fluorosurfactants in waterborne wood coatings and how they can be used as cost-effective additives to help improve surface tension reduction, wetting, leveling, oil repellency and chemical resistance in thin film applications.
Coatings on wood surfaces are mainly for protective and decorative purposes. In recent years, manufacturers of wood coatings have devoted their research and development resources to improving waterborne coatings due to their huge environmental advantage.(1) Waterborne coatings offer finishers outstanding environmental benefits such as VOC compliance, lower odor and fewer harmful organic vapors, lower flammability, a safer and healthier workplace with fewer allergies and less skin irritation, and reduced fire hazards. Along with these come economic advantages such as lower insurance and storage costs, and lower hazardous waste disposal costs. They also allow for application advantages such as the ability to use existing application equipment to apply at varying thicknesses and reduced labor for clean up.