There are multiple drivers for innovation in the decorative coating industry, – cost, VOC legislation and the desire for more eco-friendly products to name but a few – but perhaps none earns more attention than sustainability. At the Paint Research Association’s 8th International Wood Coatings Congress, October 2012, in Europe, sustainability (increasing the lifetime of coatings and reducing the amount of finite raw materials used), and the part the coatings industry has played in driving efforts in this area, were the focus of discussion.
In the coatings market, silicone additives are well known for the surface properties they bring to the coatings formulator – slip, abrasion resistance, wetting, leveling and defoaming. Perhaps what is less known is the contribution these materials can make to improve the sustainability of decorative coatings, for both architectural and wood coating applications. Improvements to increase the longevity of coatings and the ability to use fewer natural resources, such as titanium dioxide, are characteristics that Si-based materials can deliver today or in the near future. In this article we investigate how silicones deliver these properties.