Paints & Coatings

More than 7,500 years ago, Chinese and Japanese craftsmen discovered that the sap of lacquer trees could be used to give wooden surfaces a protective finish. At the time, color was a privilege reserved for wealthy people, and paints were made from natural oils (pine tree, linseed) as well as inorganic and often toxic pigments. The chemical revolution of the 20th century finally enabled scientists to develop more robust resins from petrochemical sources – with even better performance, availability and at a lower cost.

Waterborne coatings & solvent-based coatings

Since their first appearance on the market 25 years ago, waterborne coatings have gained more and more significance in coatings applications due to their advantageous properties. As a consequence of increasingly stringent environmental standards, waterborne coatings, which have an inherently low solvent content, continue to hold the pole position in the race towards ever lower VOC levels.

Industrial coatings

Industrial coatings are the workhorses for covering the widest range of applications – heavy-duty, can and coil, wood, construction, flooring and other coatings. These are generally either solvent-based or waterborne systems. The broad portfolio of MERACRYL® methacrylate monomers enables formulators to precisely calibrate resin properties, such as adhesion, metal protection or even preservation of natural wood.

Architectural & decorative coatings

Architectural coatings are widely used to protect wooden or concrete structures from bleaching, chalking and general deterioration. Protective and decorative coatings that require excellent film-formation, adhesion, durability and gloss properties are ideally formulated with methacrylate resins.

Architectural coatings for outdoor applications preferably consist of MERACRYL® MMA or n-BMA methacrylate resins, offering excellent weatherability and color stability. Desired film formation properties are obtained from the right mixture of hard (MERACRYL® MMA) and soft (MERACRYL® n-BMA) comonomers while MERACRYL® GMAA helps stabilize emulsion polymers. In the long run, methacrylate resins consistently demonstrate their advantages in applications where labor costs are a chief concern.

 

Automotive coatings

Automotive coatings combine an attractive finish with outstanding protection. Methacrylate resins, with their inherently excellent weatherability and scratch resistance, are ideally associated with diisocyanates to add flexibility to high performance coatings. Hydroxyesters like MERACRYL® HEMA and HPMA serve as anchor molecules for crosslinking with polyurethanes.