interview with christine louis
Christine Louis is a technical expert for decorative coatings with the Coating Additives business line of Evonik. For the past 20 years, she has been working in the coating, ink, and adhesive industries and with additives used in those formulations (in particular, substrate wetting agents, defoamers, and dispersants).
view the interview below.
read more detailed answers to the interview questions below.
WHAT ARE THE TRENDS AND DRIVERS IN THE DECORATIVE COATINGS MARKET?
Throughout the years, market trends have been strongly driven by health and environmental legislation. Regulatory changes have forced formulators to adapt their formulations and raw materials. What we see is that there are often differences from region to region. The challenge that we, the suppliers, are facing is to develop products that are suitable to both global and local players.
I would also mention high-performance efficiency. For new developments, formulators are typically looking for better performance in order to differentiate themselves from their competition. So, the raw material suppliers need to develop products that provide more than one performance benefit, without any side effects.
WHY ARE SUPERWETTERS SO IMPORTANT AND HOW DO THEY SOLVE COATINGS DEFECTS?
Superwetters are substrate wetting agents that are highly efficient at reducing surface tension, which solves multiple problems at once. They can help improving flow and leveling. At the same time they reduce surface defects, like craters. And they do this without generating any extra foam. These wood coated panel clearly show how the DYNOL™ 980 helps improve the aesthetic properties of the coating. The blank, without any substrate wetting agent, shows many craters. This multi-functional character will certainly help formulators to develop high performance coatings and reduce the complexity of the formulation.
Comparison of defects:
Left Panel - Formulation with DYNOL™ 980
Right Panel - Blank