Water-borne systems are becoming more and more widely used in the coatings market and can be considered as the leading technology addressing both environmental and toxicological concerns. Research in this field has already produced interesting new developments for most of the essential raw material types required for manufacturing basic formulations. Probably the most critical parameters still to be optimised in the field of water-borne technology are film clarity and chemical resistance, especially in very low gloss systems. Many of the systems in the industrial wood and furniture finishing industries are transparent, unpigmented, matt lacquers or varnishes, whose prime function is to protect the wood substrate and enhance its natural aesthetic beauty. In general, the optical parameters of very low gloss matt waterborne lacquers are still considered inferior to those of their traditional solvent borne counterparts, especially with respect to transparency and haze. As a consequence, the enhancement of the highly valued wood grain image is often not as good as desired.
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