New-age Paint Thickening & Rheological Additives : Solvitex & Solvizen By
R.S Subramanium
For Paint Manufacturers worldwide, there has come a radical new
development in the legion of Thickening Agents & Colloidal stabilizer
for Aqueous Latex Paints. So far most of the companies producing aqueous
Paint emulsions, the most preferred thickening agent was Hydroxy ethyl
cellulose (HEC). The HEC based thixotropic additives is produced by some
of the renowned multi-national companies such as Hercules, Akzo Nobel &
Dow.
Here we refer to a Biopolymer based on Polysacchride derived from
controlled derivatisation process from plant origin. The product
developed by Asian Trade Link Chemicals Division in India has already
been a successful venture for replacement of HECs for many paint
companies. The Product is known as Solvitex thickening agent & colloidal
stabilizer.
The solvitex range of products is offered in wide range of viscosities
of aqueous solutions. It comes in Powder form of Offwhite color and the
thickening properties are similar to HEC.
But the Advantages of Solviex against HECs are many. The prime factor is
the stability & economic pricing. Its been observed that for a Medium
viscosity range of products such as Natrosol 250 HBR or Bermcoll 381 the
intial drop after settling is by 20% and then the finished paint adheres
to be stable for six months.and the viscosity further drops. Solvitex
has an initial drop of settling to 10% and the product is stable in
physical observation for more than 1year exhibiting the same viscosity.
As known by many Paint technicians, its inevitable that the stability of
thickening agent after incorporating in the Paint system, is delicate
towards wide temperature changes. Especially applicable for Export
shipments when the Paint under goes through various temperature
conditions during its transit. A sudden drop & rise in outside
temperature can effect the stability. Solvitex has potentially proven to
be stable under those conditions.
Amongst HEC, I personally find Cellosize of Dow as the most stable
product compared to Bermocoll & Tylose.
Myself as Paint formulator & other colleagues working in different
companies had a dilemma existing for selection. For cheaper Paints the
Stronger product or High Viscosity grades were used such but there
always was a flocculation after some period on shelf storage. For the
Expensive ones we had to prefer Medium Viscosities grade to overcome
shelf storage time. Most of the companies carry the same practice.
When I came across Solvitex range of Thickeners I was given much
competitive prices. Priced at least 10% lower than HEC based Products,
but my major concern was to check the colloidal stabilization. The
Product was immediately tested and was found to perform excellent.
Apart from that, Solvitex has provided better color acceptance & and
coatabilty.
Sooner we came across Solvizen developed by the same company for more
economic & cheaper Price. The thickening & stability properties was the
same but economically priced.
However, The Water solution clarity of Solvizen was not as clear as of
Solvitex or HECs. It was slight turbid. But when incorporated in Paints,
we couldn’t find any difference. Again the Paint was stable physically
observed.
As a Paint formulator from past 2 decades and based on my experiences, I
suggest to all those technicians in the same field to try Solvitex &
Solvizen range of Thickening agents.
For more information about solviex & solvizen one can check
http://www.asiantradelinkindia.com/additives_for_paints_adhesives_paint_binders.html
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