Reduction of VOC

The 'VOCs' (Volatile Organic Compounds) are the organic solvents contained in a system which evaporate into the atmosphere. The lower the VOCs, the more environmental friendly the system is. This is usually resolved by increasing the solids content in the coating.

The viscosity of a coating is made up of contributions from the solvent, resin and pigment. In standard low-solids coatings, the contribution from the pigment is dominated by that of the resin. However, in high-solids coatings, the presence of less solvent and the low viscosity resins used make the contribution from the pigment far more significant.

Hyperdispersants, by reducing inter-particulate attractive forces, dramatically lower the pigments contribution towards viscosity. Therefore, when comparing two high-solids coatings, with and without hyperdispersant, the latter will have at same constitution lower viscosity, in other words less solvent at equal application viscosity.