Scratch Resistant Paint System Based on Encapsulated Nanoparticles - New Product

Degussa have developed a new range of acrylic paints based on siloxane encapsulated nanoparticles. The environmentally friendly paints are solvent free and produce a scratch-proof, wear resistant coating and can be applied to parquet floors, paper, metals and plastics. The wear resistance of the coatings is claimed to be ten times greater than that for conventional acrylic paints.

The paints are a hybrid mixture containing inorganic and organic components. The inorganic component consists of nanoparticles based on pyrogenic silica (Aerosil TM), with an organiofunctional Silane (Sivento TM) in an acrylic based UV Cross linkable binder.

The paint is innovative in that it contains a high inorganic nanoparticle content of over 30%. While this is advantageous from the point of view of producing a scratch resistant paint, the high silica content also increases the viscosity due to its polarity. The developers combated this problem by encapsulating the silica with a soft polysiloxane coating of organofunctional silanes. By doing this, the viscosity could be reduced, without affecting the scratch resistance of the final coating, while eliminating the need for extra solvents.

This paint system is UV and radiation curing and offers thermal and mechanical stability, as well as hardness, durability, non-flammability and UV resistance. They are also easy to apply and cure within seconds. The absence of solvents makes them environmentally friendly and the small particle size makes them transparent. Thus they are suited to flooring and furniture applications.

Posted December 2001