Concentrol has over 75 years of experience in the design and manufacture of specialty chemicals. Throughout its trajectory, it has made a great commitment to research and innovation in order to be able to provide its customers with the best chemical solutions for their needs.

Having a product with quality finishes is key to stand out from the competition. It is essential that products such as paints, inks, varnishes and industrial coatings have good wetting, good resistance to wear and avoid typical surface defects such as craters or compatibility problems in their use. To provide the coatings with these properties, silicone surface additives are added.

These additives are organic-functional silicones, most of which are composed of copolymers of polysiloxane and non-hydrolyzable polyether. Unlike traditional silicone oils, these additives are very easy to use and their compatibility with most formulations, thanks to the chemical derivatization of the siloxane group, is very high.

Concentrol develops, in its laboratories, silicone-based additives for surface treatments, thanks to an expert team of chemical technicians. The company’s strong commitment to research allows us today to have total control over the synthesis of these silicone additives, offering a wide range of products, as well as solutions for most problems and requirements in the coating sector. In addition, we study the specific cases that our clients and collaborators send us, to develop products adapted to each of the needs raised.

 

Wetting

In the production of paints, varnishes, inks, and coatings, the ease with which they wet onto the substrate is a determining factor in the quality of the coating. If a homogeneous and continuous film cannot be achieved when the coating is applied, or it dries, it is because its wetting properties are not adequate.

For the textile sector, they provide a natural and smooth finish, as well as greater resistance to folding and abrasion. They also protect the fabric from shearing and make ironing easier. They do not affect the water absorption of the fabric or alter the colour.

For the leather sector, the incorporation of silicone additives provides the product with excellent resistance to abrasion, while facilitating gliding and providing a shiny and smooth finish to the treated leather. These silicone additives dilute very easily and offer excellent wetting properties.

The range of silicone surface additives offered by Concentrol responds to specific solutions for each manufacturer. All of them are excellent value for money and give the product on which they are applied a good wetting, an intense shine and colour, and resistance to abrasion.

Most of the silicone additives produced by Concentrol comply with FDA food contact regulations and many of them with BfR Chapter XV and EU Regulation No. 10/2011.

Concentrol has developed the ORDISOL SWT range of silicone wetting agents for coatings. As previously discussed, the addition of small amounts of these silicone humectants allows for adequate wetting of the different types of coatings on various substrates.

These additives are organo-functional silicones, most of them composed of non-hydrolyzable polyether-polysiloxane copolymers. The polysiloxane group is apolar and hydrophobic, while the polyether group is polar and hydrophilic. These copolymers therefore have surfactant properties, so that when dissolved in the mixture, they lower the surface tension of the liquid. In this way, the contact angle between the coating and the substrate is reduced, thus improving wetting.

Graph 1: Wetting according to the contact angle between the coating and the substrate

 

The ORDISOL SWT range

The ORDISOL SWT range of wetting agents is formulated based on silicones, as they have a better cost-performance ratio than fluorocarbon-based humectants, while being more environmentally friendly.

In addition, its efficiency is very high with very low concentrations, with typical doses of below 1% of the total of the formulation. They also have high compatibility with most ink or coating formulations, so they do not show defects such as craters or popcorn ceiling effect.

Within the ORDISOL SWT range we have also developed so-called super-wetting agents based on non-ionic copolymers on trisiloxane structures. The wetting power of these is much higher, reducing the surface tension of water between 3 and 4 times. These, however, lack properties such as resistance to abrasion, anti-blocking properties, slippage, etc.

Graph 2: study carried out in Concentrol laboratories on the wetting properties of ORDISOL SWT silicone additives

Concentrol controls all the synthesis of additives for silicone surfaces and makes the experience of its technical team available to each client to specifically study the needs of each case and be able to advise on the most suitable silicone additive for surfaces to give an impeccable finish to the Manufacturer’s product and excellent value for money. Contact us for more information.