ATLANTA – Dow Coating Materials’ Principal Research Scientist, Zhenwen Fu, has received first place in the Roon Awards competition, part of the 2014 American Coatings CONFERENCE held at the Georgia World Congress Center in Atlanta April 8-10.

The Roon Awards are considered one of the coating industry’s highest technical achievements and are designed to recognize the best technical papers representing original scientific and innovative research directly related to the protective coatings industry. Fu presented his award-winning paper at the conference.

Originally presented to a panel of judges, Fu’s technical paper, “Designed Hybridization: A Paradigm Shift in New Latex Polymer Coatings,” focuses on recent research findings on how the DESIGNED HYBRIDIZATION™ Technology creates new hybrid latex polymers for coatings.

To reduce VOCs, the industry has been converting from solvent-borne polymers to waterborne polymers. Through extensive research, Fu discovered a Novel Acrylic/Epoxy Hybrid (AEH) dispersion that incorporates the best features of both waterborne conventional epoxy dispersion, and acrylic latex systems for impactful performance formulation in concrete floor and wall coatings.