Three new matting agents complement the ACEMATT® family

Essen, Germany. Evonik's Coating Additives Business Line is expanding its well-known ACEMATT® product line with three particularly efficient and universally applicable matting agents based on precipitated silica: The fine-particle products ACEMATT® OK 390 and ACEMATT® HK 390, and the particularly versatile silica ACEMATT® HK 520. The three new silicas from the specialty chemicals group are characterized by a combination of efficient, ultra-deep matting, high transparency, and extremely fine surface haptics. All three matting agents can be used universally in water- and solvent-based systems as well as in pigmented and clear formulations.

Fine haptics and maximum transparency

"Due to their outstanding transparency properties, they provide a deep matte surface without a milky white haze, especially in clear coatings," says Maximilian Morin, head of the Industrial & Transportation Coatings market segment. The main applications are coatings for plastics, for example on laptops or smartphones, and wood coatings, for example on parquet flooring, tabletops or kitchen countertops.

In wood applications especially, it is visually very appealing to see the grain showing through the transparent coating. In automotive interior applications, such as dashboards and trim, the matting silica also provides a glare-free matte surface. For exterior coatings, matte formulations are also becoming increasingly popular.

With the surface-treated ACEMATT® OK 390 and its untreated counterpart ACEMATT® HK 390, Evonik developers have succeeded in producing matting silicas with a particularly small particle size. "As a result, they produce a very fine surface feel," says Thomas Klotzbach, head of ACEMATT® application technology. The special feature: Despite the small size of the particles, the same deep degree of matting is achieved with almost the same amount of powder as with products with larger particles. "This means the same efficiency without sacrificing transparency."

ACEMATT® portfolio expanded

"Now the whole ACEMATT® family consisting of surface-treated and untreated silica is complete," Morin says. "We have fine-particle matting agents in the portfolio, plus our tried-and-true ACEMATT® OK 520 has been joined by an unwaxed variant, ACEMATT® HK 520, which performs equally well."

One advantage of untreated silicas such as ACEMATT® HK 390 and ACEMATT® HK 520 over waxed silica is their better orientation in water-based systems. This prevents uneven particle distribution in some plastic coatings, resulting in a smooth, deep matte surface. In turn, the post-treatment of precipitated silica, as in the new ACEMATT® OK 390, means that the product does not settle during storage and is therefore more stable in the coating.

Good dispersibility

The three new silicas score not only in terms of appearance and feel, however, but also in terms of application by the paint manufacturer because they show little influence on the viscosity of the formulation and have excellent dispersion behavior.

With the three new members of the ACEMATT® family, Evonik is responding to changing requirements in the paint and coatings industry, where demand is growing for ever deeper degrees of matting and high-quality waterborne coating systems, and customers are looking for a fine feel in surface coatings.

Technical, regulatory, and safety data sheets for ACEMATT® OK 390, ACEMATT® HK 390, and ACEMATT® HK 520 can be found at www.coating-additives.com.

Evonik is one of the world's leading manufacturers of silica. In addition to the precipitated silica-based matting agents under the brand name ACEMATT®, the precipitated silicas ULTRASIL®, SIPERNAT®, ZEODENT® and SPHERILEX®, Evonik also produces fumed silica AEROSIL® and other fumed metal oxides under the brand name AEROXIDE®. In total, the company has a global capacity of around 1,000,000 metric tons per year for all silicas.