World-famous brands in the coatings industry

In today’s demanding market, it is very important for manufacturers to be able to easily formulate and produce coatings and paints with finishes ranging from high-gloss to matte.

Evonik’s silica-based matting agents affect the surface structure in such a way that the light hitting the treated surface is scattered. The matting particles - which break the surface of the coating - are invisible to the human eye. Neither the color of the coating nor the underlying surface are significantly affected.

With a good matte coating film, objects such as the dashboard of your car or the top of your dining table have an elegant shine and pleasant feel.

The roughness of the surface not only provides good haptic qualities, it also imparts a noble satin-gloss finish, which is very popular in certain markets (parquet floors, for example). Choosing a matte surface is not just an aesthetic decision, but it's also a matter of safety: Some applications, such as building facades and industrial floors, use a matte surface to to avoid dangerous light reflections.

ACEMATT® is the best matting solution for any coatings formulation, from water-based to UV-curing.

The shortage of raw materials and resources on our planet has been a hotly debated topic for several decades. ”Black gold” in particular inspired many to become active researchers. Employees at former-Degussa (now Evonik Industries) were also enthusiastic about the idea of one day finding a substitute for oil. Therefore, in 1941, they began to develop a white filling material for the tire industry as a substitute for industrial carbon black (which until then could only be produced from oil). Twelve months later, via high-temperature flame hydrolysis, they succeeded in producing the first ultra-fine-particle pyrogenic silica.

Their vision became reality and the brand known as AEROSIL® was born.

Milestones

• 1941: Development of high-temperature hydrolysis for the production of pyrogenic silica
• 1942: Development of the first industrial production process in Rheinfelden (Germany), awarding of the first patent
• 1943: AEROSIL® is registered as a trademark for Degussa’s pyrogenic silica
• 1953: Production of aluminium oxides using the AEROSIL® method
• 1954: Production of pyrogenic titanium oxides
• 1963: Commercial production of the first hydrophobic types: AEROSIL® R 972 and AEROSIL® R 974
• 1964: Marketing of the first AEROSIL® dispersion
• 1966: Establishment of the Nippon Aerosil Co. a joint venture with today’s Mitsubishi Materials Corp. in Tokyo (Japan)
• 1970: Start of production in Antwerp (Belgium)
• 1976: Start of the AEROSIL® production in Mobile (AL, USA)
• 1986: Development of a further chemical after-treatment technology; hydrophobizing method completed; AEROSIL® R 805, R 812 and R 202 launched
• 1992: Launch of the first structure-modified hydrophobic product, AEROSIL® R 8200; first fully integrated production location for AEROSIL® in Waterford (NY, USA)
• 2002: Official opening of further integrated production plants in Leverkusen (Germany) and Roussillon (France)
• 2007: AEROSIL® is approved for use with food
• 2009: AEROSIL® is made available as granules with pharmaceutical approval
• 2014: Evonik increases capacity for surface-treated AEROSIL® fumed silica

TEGO® products were introduced to the market in 1984, capitalizing on the core technologies of the long-established Goldschmidt company to develop and commercialize additives and specialty binders for the coatings and printing inks industries.

These technologies form the basis for the synthesis of organically modified polysiloxanes, the formulation of defoamers and deaerators, and the production of silicone binders.

Customer feedback soon revealed an increasing number of functionality requirements, which led to the rapid expansion of the product range. Today, our portfolio of additives includes defoamers, deaerators, pigment wetting and dispersing additives, flow and glide agents, substrate wetting additives, radiation-curing additives, rheological additives, and hydrophobing agents.

For all of these products, interfacial phenomena play an important role. Evonik’s in-depth expertise in this field is utilized to develop innovative additives, particularly for technologies with a promising future (such as waterborne paint systems, radiation-curing printing inks, etc.). To this end, TEGO® has utilized silicone chemistry and its own know-how of block co-polymers, polyethers, special surfactants etc. to formulate silicone-free additives.

In our modern laboratories, research projects are carried out in close consultation with our customers with the aim of creating innovative, customer-specific solutions and remaining pioneers in developing new technologies.

Today, TEGO® is a powerful brand from Evonik and in the global coatings industry.

The proprietary chemistry of SURFYNOL® is what makes its extraordinary performance possible. In many cases, multiple formulation challenges can be addressed with a single product.

For more than four decades, our customers have relied on SURFYNOL® surfactants as essential formulation components. What makes SURFYNOL® additives unique is their structure. While conventional surfactants have a single hydrophobic group (often referred to as a hydrocarbon tail) connected to a hydrophilic head, our acetylenic diol surfactants have two hydrophilic heads connected to two tails. It is because of the dimetric nature of the two-head groups that these materials have been dubbed "Gemini surfactants," after the twins of Greek mythology.

The tremendous advantages seen with these additives lies in their unique chemistry. As a result of their chemical structure, Gemini surfactants are more surface active than traditional hydrocarbon surfactants, making them efficient, effective, and multi-functional tools for solving a variety of problems in systems in which they are included.

Specific performance properties of Gemini surfactants include significantly reduced surface tension at lower usage levels, better foam control, improved emulsification, better dispersion of solids, improved wetting, and decreased wetting times. SURFYNOL® is widely used in countless industries, including coatings, inks, adhesives, metal-working, and emulsion polymerization.