Study Of The Application Of VAE Dispersions In Low To Zero VOC Water Based Interior Wall Coatings

In this paper, the application of VAE dispersions in low to zero VOC water based interior wall coatings was mainly studied. Starting formulations for the Mid to High end coatings with a PVC of 50% and the low end coatings with a PVC of 74% were determined by properly selecting the pigment and fillers system, the dispersants, wetting agents, defoamers and the thickeners. Overall performances of the finish coatings were tested. And the applicability of VAE dispersions used for different PVC coatings were learnt. Environmental friendly coatings which have good cost performance balance and as well are compliant with the requirements for the premium coatings according to China GB standard can be acheived via modifying the VAE dispersions to be self-crosslinked or adding extra additives into the rather high PVC formulaitons.In this paper, it was discussed that by the comparison with other polymer based dispersion technologies, VAE dispersions are more environmental friendly due to its,,interally-plasticized" structure, the,,easy to be removed" residual monomers during production process and the low carbone footprint during its consuming periods.The conclusions as follows were drawn from the test results based on the starting formulations. VAE dispersions can be used as the binder to make high performances mid to high end while low VOC water based interior wall coatings. On the comparison, VAE dispersions performed equally or better than the other polymer based environmental friendly dispersions according to this formulation. And it has the possibility to help to achieve zero VOC coatings.While the dried films of VAE are relatively soft, if using VAE dispersions as the binders for the low end high PVC coatings, it could hardly pass the scrub cycles required by GB standard nor meet the requirements for the early wet wipes ability which is a checking point getting popular now. But if doing some modifications to the VAE dispersions, especially the surfactants stabilized ones to be self-crosslinked or using some extra additives like the functional silicone resin modified polysiloxane, it can help to make the high PVC but low VOC water based interior wall coatings which are compliant with the GB standard as the premium class.