One of the key factors driving innovation within the coatings market is reducing the environmental impact of a coating system. The pressure for improved environmental profiles is derived from governmental regulations and consumer concerns. For industrial wood coatings, the reduction of HAPs, VOCs and hazardous chemical species such as formaldehyde has driven reformulation efforts, as well as the use of new technologies such as UV-curable and waterborne coatings. Currently, the dominant technologies used in North America are solventborne nitrocellulose 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 HAP emission 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.
Several types of waterborne acrylic technologies are being successfully used in the wood coatings market, including thermoplastic and self-crosslinking acrylics. When high performance, such as excellent chemical and solvent resistance, is needed in a one-component coating, the self-crosslinking acrylics are preferred. This article describes a new self-crosslinking waterborne acrylic resin, ROSHIELD™ 4000, designed for use in wood coating applications, and compares its performance with some current waterborne acrylic resins and conventional solventborne systems.2 Specifically, results are reported for testing in wood furniture and kitchen cabinet applications. The performance of the new ambient temperature self-crosslinking waterborne acrylic binder is highlighted, demonstrating that it can be formulated into wood finishes that are one-component, high performance and low VOC. A key feature of this new self-crosslinking technology is that it does not yellow over formaldehyde-containing substrates and basecoats, which allows for its use over a broader range of wood applications than current self-crosslinking acrylic resins. ROSHIELD 4000 acrylic resin facilitates coatings with excellent durability, chemical resistance and surface properties such as block and print resistance and hardness, all of which are important features for factory-finished wood products.