Ashland offers a unique range of innovative products for the coatings industry, featuring rheology modifiers, defoamers and biocides. In Hall 4A, Stand 422, Ashland presents its unique range of products and services to the worldwide coatings industry.

Ashland is introducing ground-breaking innovation to the marketplace with its new Natrosol PerformaxTM HEC that delivers unprecedented process flexibility and quality control to paint manufacturers. The Natrosol Performax technology triggers rapid and complete dispersion in any water-based medium, even under low shear conditions. This allows manufacturers to add HEC in dry form at any point of the manufacturing process, eliminating extra process steps such as the preparation of pre-slurries or dissolutions of HEC, saving operational costs. The result is a faster, more-efficient, less costly production process.

“Our innovative Natrosol Performax HEC offers paint makers much more flexibility in their production process. It improves grinding and reduces energy, thus optimizing the process,” said Griffin Gappert, New Product Leader, Coatings Specialties, Ashland Specialty Ingredients.

In addition, Ashland has its complete portfolio of coatings additives, expertise and technical service to offer at the Stand. “From rheology modifiers like Natrosol HEC and Aquaflow™ nonionic synthetic associates thickeners (NSAT) to JaypolTM dispersants and FungitrolTM biocides, Ashland not only has the full additives tool kit for paint making, we also have the knowledge and experience to help customers achieve tailor-made, innovative solutions for their challenges,” said Hilbert Esselbrugge, Global Applications Leader, Coatings Specialties, Ashland Specialty Ingredients.

“Ashland is uniquely positioned to understand what our consumers want,” explained Shruti Singhal, Director, Global Marketing for Coatings Specialties, Ashland Specialty Ingredients. “We understand market trends and can spot unmet market needs on a global level. We understand how our customers’ R&D teams translate these needs into solutions that are customized to local markets worldwide.”

Ashland Specialty Ingredients is one of the few coatings additives suppliers with a production facility and laboratory network spanning the world, specifically in the area of HEC and NSATs. An example of Ashland’s expansion in the coatings market is its increased presence and focus in water-based wood coatings in Europe. “We have a complete additive solution offering to meet the critical needs of our customers for factory applied water-based wood coatings,” Singhal explained.

Ashland is presenting six papers on technology developments at the ECS Congress. These include:

• Surfactants for Use as Codispersants in Architectural Coatings
• Decoding Paint Application "Feel"
• Novel HEC for Direct Dry-Powder Addition
• Novel Rheology Modifers for Formulating near 0-VOC Waterborne Coatings
• Perfectly Tailoring the Performance of Water-based Premium Quality Decorative Paints
• Quantitative Performance Assessment of New Foam Control Agents in Waterborne Coatings