SILICONE-BASED TECHNOLOGY FOR DECORATIVE PAINTS

摘要

Solvent emissions from paints have been receiving increasing attention in recent years mainly due to the efforts to reduce the impact on the environment. As solvents have been perceived as a contributor not only to global warning but to low level ozone creation, which leads to smog that is associated with risks to human health and damage to agricultural crops, researches focusing on the development of alternatives for solvents is on rise. More recently, the toxicity of these solvents to humans has also become an area of concern. Prolonged exposure to these solvents, especially by professional painters and those working in the paint manufacturing industry, has been found to cause organic psycho syndrome (OPS). In addition, most organic solvents are flammable, and come from oil sources, which may be depleted at some time in the future. These concerns have driven the world coatings industry to develop water-borne technology for application in low VOC paint systems. For many years now, water-borne dispersions have been used for decorative coatings where they are slowly replacing conventional solvent-borne alkyd systems. Incorporation of renewable raw materials into decorative paints is one of the alternatives that will possibly contribute to reduction of the carbon dioxide footprint over the life cycle of the coating.