What are the application fields of waterborne acrylic resin?

The application fields of waterborne acrylic resin are introduced in detail

Waterborne acrylic resin is a waterborne polymer material prepared by emulsion polymerization and solution polymerization (post-waterborne) with acrylate and methacrylate as core monomers. With water as dispersion medium/solvent, it has the core advantages of environmental protection, low VOC, good film forming, strong adhesion, excellent weather resistance and adjustable mechanical properties, and can be further improved by modification (styrene-acrylate, silicone-acrylate and polyurethane modified acrylic acid, etc.).

Its application fields cover many industries such as architectural coatings, industrial coatings, packaging and printing, textile printing and dyeing, leather chemical industry, adhesives, papermaking, daily chemicals, etc. It is one of the most widely used and richest varieties of waterborne polymer materials at present. Different types of waterborne acrylic resins (emulsion type, water-dispersible type and water-soluble) correspond to different application scenarios. The following are the detailed applications and product characteristics of each field:

First, the field of architectural coatings: the most used core application scenarios

Waterborne acrylic resin is the mainstream film-forming base material of architectural coatings, accounting for more than 70% of the total resin used in architectural waterborne coatings. It is suitable for all kinds of interior walls, exterior walls, floors, waterproof coatings, etc., with high cost performance and good workability, and can meet the requirements of weather resistance and water resistance in different environments through modification. It is the first choice material for home decoration and engineering buildings.

interior latex

Pure acrylic emulsion and styrene-acrylic emulsion (low-cost) are mainly used, which have the advantages of soft film forming, strong hiding power, excellent scrubbing resistance (up to several dry times), soft color, no peculiar smell, up to the standard of environmental protection, suitable for indoor decoration of families, office buildings, shopping malls, etc., and can be mixed with different matte and semi-gloss effects, and functional additives can be added to make mildew-proof, stain-resistant and clean-smelling interior wall paint.

Exterior wall latex paint/real stone paint overlay

The core uses pure acrylic emulsion and silicone-acrylic emulsion (weather-resistant modified version), which has excellent ultraviolet resistance, aging resistance, acid rain resistance and pulverization resistance, and its outdoor service life can reach 8-15 years. After film formation, it can resist temperature and humidity changes and sand erosion, and is the core material for exterior wall painting of houses, factories and municipal projects. At the same time, the finish made of silicone-acrylic emulsion can be used on the surface of real stone paint, sand-in-water paint and water-in-water colorful paint to improve water resistance and stain resistance and prevent the coating from falling off and whitening.

Building floor coating

Water-based floor paint is made of cross-linked water-based acrylic emulsion (self-cross-linking or cross-linking) and wear-resistant filler, which has certain scratch resistance, chemical resistance (slight acid and alkali, oil stain), heavy load resistance, environmental protection, solvent-free, and no irritating smell during construction. It is suitable for non-heavy anti-corrosion floor scenes such as workshops, underground garages and corridors, and its cost performance is higher than that of epoxy resin floor paint.

Building waterproof coating

Waterborne acrylic waterproof coating is made of high elastic acrylic emulsion (low glass transition temperature, good film elasticity), which has excellent extensibility and crack resistance, can adapt to micro-cracking of building base (tensile strength ≥1.0MPa, elongation at break ≥300%), and has strong adhesion to cement base, good water resistance and weather resistance, and can be used for waterproof projects in roofs, toilets, kitchens, balconies and other parts independently.

Second, the field of industrial coatings: the core alternative materials for environmental protection upgrading

With the strict control of VOC emission from industrial coatings by environmental protection policy, water-borne acrylic resin gradually replaces solvent-borne acrylic resin and alkyd resin, and becomes the mainstream base material of water-borne coatings in industries such as light industry, hardware, plastics and auto parts. Some modified materials (such as PUA and epoxy modified acrylic acid) can meet the performance requirements of high-end industrial coatings.

Plastic industrial coatings

For ABS, PP, PC, PVC and other plastic substrates, a special waterborne acrylic emulsion/water dispersion was developed, which has excellent substrate adhesion (no primer coating is needed or only simple primer coating is needed), scratch resistance, alcohol resistance and cosmetic resistance, and the film is soft, matching the flexibility of plastic substrates, and is suitable for the coating of mobile phone shells, home appliance panels, toys, plastic furniture, automobile interiors, etc., and can be made into matte, high-gloss and high-gloss products.

Hardware/metal anticorrosive coatings

Self-crosslinking waterborne acrylic resin modified by epoxy resin is used to form a dense protective layer after film formation, which has certain salt spray resistance, acid and alkali resistance and corrosion resistance (salt spray test can reach 200-500 hours, depending on the modification process), and is suitable for the bottom paint of wrought iron, aluminum products, hardware fittings and steel structures, which is environment-friendly and solvent-free. In construction, spraying, roller coating and dip coating can be used to replace the traditional ones.

Automotive industry coatings

The middle and low-end fields are mainly used for painting automobile parts and commercial vehicle bodies, using weather-resistant pure acrylic emulsion and silicone acrylic emulsion, which has excellent ultraviolet resistance and aging resistance; In the field of high-end passenger cars, waterborne acrylic topcoat is prepared by polyurethane modified acrylic acid (PUA), which gives consideration to high gloss, high hardness, scratch resistance and chemical resistance, and gradually replaces solvent-based automotive topcoat to adapt to the original automobile paint and repair paint scenes.

Wood industry coatings

It can be divided into water-based acrylic wood primer and topcoat. The primer uses low-viscosity acrylic emulsion, which has good filling and strong adhesion and can seal the wood conduit. Self-crosslinking pure acrylic emulsion is used as the topcoat, with transparent film, adjustable gloss (matte, semi-gloss, high gloss), certain scratch resistance, water resistance, coffee/tea stain resistance and other daily stains, which is suitable for painting solid wood furniture, panel furniture, wooden doors and wooden floors, and is environmentally friendly and odorless, meeting the environmental protection standards of furniture industry.

Third, the field of packaging and printing: the optimization of food-grade environmental protection coating

Waterborne acrylic resin is mainly used in packaging and printing fields, such as packaging film, paper products and metal packaging. Its core advantages are environmental protection, non-toxic, strong adhesion, thin and compact film, and it can meet the requirements of relevant national standards for food packaging (such as GB 4806). Some products also have the properties of oil resistance, cooking resistance and heat sealing.

Plastic packaging film coating/ink binder

For packaging films such as BOPP, PET, PE, etc., water-based acrylic emulsion is used to make the binder of water-based surface printing ink and inner printing ink, as well as the smooth and anti-sticking coating of the film, which has excellent film adhesion and friction resistance (ink layer does not fall off) and no solvent residue, and is suitable for printing and coating of food packaging bags, express bags, cosmetic packaging films, etc.

Paper product packaging coating

It is used for polishing and waterproof coating on the surface of coated paper, white cardboard and kraft paper. The water-based acrylic emulsion with low glass transition temperature is used to form a transparent film with high gloss, which can improve the waterproof, scratch resistance and folding resistance of paper products. It is suitable for surface treatment of paper products such as food packaging boxes, gift boxes and handbags, and replaces the traditional solvent-based polishing.

Metal packaging coating

For metal packaging such as cans, canned food, metal bottle caps, etc., waterborne inner wall paint and outer wall paint made of epoxy modified waterborne acrylic resin have excellent cooking resistance, acid and alkali resistance, food medium resistance, environmental protection, no heavy metal and solvent residue, and meet the safety standards of food metal packaging.

4. Textile printing and dyeing and leather chemical industry: key materials for functional modification.

Waterborne acrylic resin is mainly used as functional finishing agent and finishing agent in textile and leather fields. It has the characteristics of good film-forming, softness, strong adhesion and cross-linking, and can be well combined with textile/leather substrate, giving the substrate waterproof, antifouling, wrinkle-resistant, wear-resistant and brightening functions. It is formaldehyde-free and heavy metal-free, which meets the environmental protection requirements of textile leather.

Textile dyeing finishing agent

Waterproof and antifouling finishing agent: fluorine-containing modified (or fluorine-free) waterborne acrylic emulsion is applied to the surface of textiles to form a hydrophobic and oil-repellent film, which is suitable for waterproof and antifouling treatment of jackets, outdoor clothes, sofa fabrics, curtains and other textiles;

Anti-wrinkle and stiffness finishing agent: cotton, linen and chemical fiber fabrics are finished with water-based acrylic resin with high glass transition temperature to improve the stiffness and wrinkle resistance of the fabrics and adapt to shirts, curtains, bedding, etc.

Softening finishing agent: acrylic emulsion with low glass transition temperature is used to improve the hand feel of textiles, enhance softness and drape, and is suitable for knitwear, sweaters, bath towels, etc.

At the same time, water-based acrylic resin can also be used as the film-forming base material of textile printing mucilage to make water-based printing mucilage, which has the characteristics of strong adhesion, good elasticity and washing resistance (no shedding or cracking), and is suitable for screen printing of T-shirts, sweaters, home textiles and other textiles.

Leather finishing agent

It is the core base material of leather finishing, covering the whole process of pigskin, cowhide, sheepskin and artificial leather/synthetic leather finishing (primer coating, intermediate coating and top coating);

Priming: use water-based acrylic emulsion with good filling property to close leather pores and improve leather smoothness;

Intermediate coating: elastic acrylic emulsion is used to give leather good flexibility and wear resistance;

Top coating: A matte, semi-gloss and high-gloss top coating agent is made of silicone-acrylic emulsion and polyurethane modified acrylic emulsion, which has scratch resistance, water resistance, sweat resistance and cosmetic resistance, and improves the appearance and use performance of leather.

Suitable for leather shoes, purses, sofa leather, car seat leather, etc., replacing the traditional solvent-based leather finishing agent, environmental protection and no odor.

V. Adhesive field: an important category of environmentally friendly water-based adhesive.

Waterborne acrylic adhesive (water-borne acrylic pressure-sensitive adhesive, structural adhesive) is an environmentally friendly adhesive made of water-borne acrylic emulsion as the core material, with tackifying resin, cross-linking agent, filler, etc. It has the advantages of strong adhesion, high initial adhesion, good adhesion, adjustable temperature resistance, environmental protection and low VOC, and is convenient to construct. It can be used by coating, spraying, brushing, etc., replacing the traditional solvent-based acrylic adhesive, and is one of the mainstream products for environmental protection upgrade in the adhesive industry.

Waterborne acrylic pressure sensitive adhesive

It is widely used, including permanent type and removable type, with balanced initial adhesion and holding power, and soft film. It is suitable for adhesive tapes (scotch tape, textured paper tape and foam tape), labels (food labels, logistics labels), sanitary napkins/diapers, non-woven fabric composite, furniture edge sealing and other scenes. Some products also have low temperature resistance, high temperature resistance, water resistance and other properties, and are suitable for different use environments.

Waterborne acrylic structural adhesive/general adhesive

Cross-linked waterborne acrylic resin is used, which has high bonding strength, is suitable for bonding various substrates such as plastic, metal, wood, fabric, paper, etc., and can be used in scenes such as furniture assembly, hardware fittings bonding, textile compounding, paper product bonding, etc., and is environment-friendly and solvent-free, and has no irritating smell during construction.

Six, the paper industry: functional additives for paper modification.

Waterborne acrylic resin, as a papermaking additive and surface treatment agent in papermaking industry, can effectively improve the physical properties and usability of paper products. The addition methods are divided into internal addition and surface coating. Although the dosage is small, it has a significant effect on improving the quality of paper products.

Wet-end additives for papermaking

It can be used as dry strength agent, wet strength agent and retention and drainage aid to improve the dry strength (tensile strength, folding strength and tear strength) and wet strength of paper, improve the retention rate and filtration speed of paper pulp, reduce fiber loss, and be suitable for the production of cultural paper, packaging paper and toilet paper.

Paper surface treatment agent

The surface is coated on the surface of paper, which can be used as waterproof agent, oil repellent, smoothing agent and gloss agent to improve the waterproof and oil repellent properties of paper, improve the smoothness and gloss of the surface, and is suitable for the production of high-end paper products such as coated paper, light weight coated paper, food packaging paper and release paper.

Seven, daily chemical and other fields: niche high value-added applications

Waterborne acrylic resin is mainly used as film-forming cosmetic raw materials in the field of daily chemicals. It is an important functional raw material for cosmetics and skin care products, relying on its characteristics of good film-forming, good air permeability, water resistance and sweat resistance, and meeting the safety standards of cosmetics (non-irritating and non-toxic). At the same time, there are also high value-added applications in other niche areas.

Household necessities cosmetic

Make-up: As a film-forming agent for mascara, eyeliner, eyebrow pencil and lipstick, it can improve the makeup retention, water resistance and sweat resistance of make-up after film formation, and prevent blooming; As a film-forming agent for liquid foundation and loose powder, it can improve the compliance and makeup setting effect of base makeup;

Skin care: As a film-forming agent for moisturizing cream and sunscreen, it can form a breathable protective film, lock skin moisture, improve the sunscreen durability of sunscreen, and do not block pores.

Other fields

Water-based ink: besides packaging printing, it can also be used as a binder for water-based flexographic ink and gravure ink, which is suitable for the printing of newspapers, books and advertising paper, and is environmentally friendly and solvent-free, and has no irritating smell when printing;

Electronic adhesive/coating: high-purity, temperature-resistant waterborne acrylic resin is used to make waterborne insulating coating and adhesive for electronic components, which has excellent insulation and temperature resistance and is suitable for packaging and protection of small electronic components;

Artificial stone/glass fiber reinforced plastic: as an auxiliary film-forming material, it is used in combination with unsaturated polyester resin to improve the weather resistance and yellowing resistance of products, reduce the use of solvent-based resin and reduce VOC emissions.