Many market segments within the coatings industry are under pressure emanating from governmental regulations and consumer concerns to reduce their environmental impact. Examples include the reduction of HAPs and VOCs released from a coating, the desire to use raw materials with higher renewable content, and use of less hazardous chemistries for improved worker and end-user safety. The industrial wood coatings market is no stranger to these concerns, and the reduction of HAPs, VOCs and hazardous chemical species such as formaldehyde has driven reformulation and the use of new technologies such as UV cure and waterborne coatings.
As an example, the current dominant technologies used in North America are solventborne nitrocellulose lacquers for wood furniture, and acid-catalyzed alkyd-aminoplast conversion varnishes for kitchen and bath cabinets.(1) Reformulation of these solventborne coatings to lower VOC and HAPs levels has allowed their continued use in those markets, but the use of even lower VOC technologies should be expected to grow in the future. In particular, UV-cure technology has grown significantly in the kitchen cabinet market, where flat stock can be finished before assembly.(1) Waterborne technologies are also available, and waterborne systems based on acrylic latex, polyurethane dispersions and other polymer technologies have been increasingly utilized as regulatory pressures lead coating manufacturers and wood finishers to look for more environmentally advanced coatings.