Abstract:
Due to current and future emissions regulations, the development of powder coating technologies is at the forefront of organic coatings research. The control of surface morphology and the enhancement of physical-chemical characteristics exhibited by polymeric materials in the absence of solvent is extremely important for the future of low volatile organic compound (VOC) emission coatings. Several unique acrylic polymeric resins with different polar and hydrogen bonding characteristics have been developed and blended together with commercially available fillers and pigments to generate solvent free coatings with unique physical-chemical properties. Characterization of the physical-chemical properties exhibited by the thermoset films of polymer blends has been performed. Analysis of both pigmented and control clear coatings was executed using various microscopy, thermal, mechanical and spectroscopic techniques. The in-depth analysis of thermoset polymer blended films has provided valuable insight into modulation of the physical-chemical properties of resin blended powder coatings through small adjustments to the reaction conditions and processing parameters. Thermoset powder coatings pose a significant challenge with respect to analysis of reaction progress in situ because of moderate temperature conditions. Therefore, through adjusting reaction conditions and processing parameters, an understanding of thermoset resin blended coating modulation was performed.
