Handleability and Sustainability with 100% Active, Flowable Dispersants

At a very high level, dispersants are used by coating and ink formulators to improve pigment dispersion and stability in liquid organic media. Dispersants typically are dissolved in a solvent – either a chemical solvent or water – which makes them easier to handle because it reduces the viscosity of the dispersant.

As formulators look to meet ever-stringent regulatory requirements and sustainability initiatives, reducing VOC content has taken on added importance. As a chemical solvent is often the major environmental concern in diluted dispersants, moving to a 100% active dispersant helps eliminate environmental and regulatory worries. From a safety standpoint, having no solvents means there are no flammable materials to be shipped and stored.

There are additional environmental benefits of having a 100% active dispersant. Because the dispersant is concentrated (active), it requires less packaging material and less volume for better manufacturing, shipping and storage efficiency.

Flowable Dispersants

All of these benefits are great, but a dispersant still must be handleable at room temperature and flow easily from its storage container into the coating or ink formulation (ensuring it’s flowable). Many 100% active dispersants tend to be highly viscous (very sticky) and don’t flow easily. That’s because for dispersants to bind to a pigment through intermolecular interactions, they also tend to stick to other things, including the storage container.

Designing a 100% active dispersant to be flowable at room temperature requires multiple methods to achieve the appropriate intermolecular interactions and performance characteristics while overcoming physical challenges.

• Selecting the raw materials thoughtfully.
• Ensuring the correct balance between the solid material to be dispersed, recognizing that larger particles typically provide better performance but are harder to handle.
• Tailoring polymer molecular weight to balance physical form with performance, combining the high performance of a high molecular weight dispersant with the fluidity of a low molecular weight dispersant.
• Controlling intermolecular interactions through anchor technology. The physical form of the dispersant can be managed by controlling precisely what those interactions are, their quantity and how they’re acting.

Solsperse™ 29000 - A 100% Active, Flowable Dispersant

One of the newest additions to the Solsperse™ Hyperdispersant portfolio, Solsperse™ 29000 is a 100% active polymeric dispersant that is flowable at room temperature and used to improve pigment dispersion and stability in liquid organic media. Adding to the sustainability benefits formulators can realize with a solvent-free dispersant, Solsperse 29000 is built from renewable resources with 50-55% bio-based content from plant sources.

Because this dispersant contains no solvents, formulators have increased flexibility for a variety of end uses because they can control the VOC content of their final formulation, without being tied to a particular solvent in the dispersant.

Formulators can realize sustainability benefits without sacrificing pigment dispersion quality or stability in their coating products, which has been demonstrated in application testing of pigment color strength and dispersion viscosity. Following are results from a few Solsperse 29000 application tests.

Organic Pigment Performance: Heliogen Blue 7101F (Pigment Blue 15:4) – Dispersion Viscosity

Viscosity of millbase dispersions was tested at low and mid shear rates after initial milling and following 2 weeks storage at 50° C. Solsperse 29000 provides improved viscosity reduction over the internal control and similar viscosity reduction compared to the industry standard.

Heliogen Blue 7101F Millbase Formulation

Carbon Black Pigment Performance: Color Black FW200 – Dispersion Viscosity

Testing was conducted with a 17.5% pigment loading, 90% AOP (active weight) of Solsperse 29000, and 20% grind resin solids of Laropal A81 in MPA. Solsperse 29000 gives significantly improved performance over the internal control and much improved storage stability of millbase dispersion over other dispersants.

Color Black FW200 Millbase Formulation

Inorganic Pigment Performance: Bayferrox Yellow L3910 (Pigment Yellow 42) – Comparative Color Strength

Testing was conducted with a 72.5% pigment loading, 2.5% AOP (active weight) of Solsperse 29000, and 20% grind resin solids of Laropal A81 in MPA. In a polyurethane resin (PU), Solsperse 29000 showed improved color strength over the internal control. In an epoxy and alkyd, it demonstrated similar performance to the internal control. Testing was conducted over a range of resin systems. Solsperse 29000 displayed strong performance comparable or superior to internal and industry standards over 3 common resin systems. Combined with being 100% active, this makes Solsperse 29000 a strong choice for any formulation.

Bayferrox® Yellow L3910 Millbase Formulation

Contact us to learn more about improving handleability using 100% active, flowable dispersants.

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