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© 2006 by Taylor & Francis Group, LLC

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56 Corrosion Control Through Organic Coatings<br />

3.1 TECHNOLOGIES FOR POLYMERS IN WATER<br />

Most polymer chains are not polar; water, being highly polar, cannot dissolve them.<br />

Chemistry, however, has provided ways to get around this problem. Paint technology<br />

has taken several approaches to suspending or dissolving polymers in water. All of<br />

them require some modification of the polymer to make it stable in a water dispersion<br />

or solution. The concentration of the polar functional groups plays a role in deciding<br />

the form of the waterborne paint: a high concentration confers water-solubility,<br />

whereas a low concentration leads to dispersion [2]. Much research has been ongoing<br />

to see where and how polar groups can be introduced to disrupt the parent polymer<br />

as little as possible.<br />

3.1.1 WATER-REDUCIBLE COATINGS AND WATER-SOLUBLE<br />

POLYMERS<br />

In both water-reducible coatings and water-soluble polymers, the polymer chain,<br />

which is naturally hydrophobic, is altered; hydrophilic segments such as carboxylic<br />

acid groups, sulphonic acid groups, and tertiary amines are grafted onto the chain<br />

to confer a degree of water solubility.<br />

In water-reducible coatings, the polymer starts out as a solution in an organic<br />

solvent that is miscible with water. Water is then added. The hydrophobic polymer<br />

separates into colloid particles, and the hydrophilic segments stabilize the colloids<br />

[3]. Water-reducible coatings, <strong>by</strong> their nature, always contain a certain fraction of<br />

organic solvent.<br />

Water-soluble polymers do not begin in organic solvent. These polymers are<br />

designed to be dissolved directly in water. An advantage to this approach is that<br />

drying becomes a much simpler process because the coating is neither dispersion<br />

nor emulsion. In addition, temperature is not as important for the formation of a<br />

film with good integrity. The polymers that lend themselves to this technique,<br />

however, are of lower molecular weight (10 3 to 10 4 ) than the polymers used in<br />

dispersions (10 5 to 10 6 ) [4].<br />

3.1.2 AQUEOUS EMULSION COATINGS<br />

An emulsion is a dispersion of one liquid in another; the best-known example is<br />

milk, in which fat droplets are emulsified in water. In an emulsion coating, a liquid<br />

polymer is dispersed in water. Many alkyd and epoxy paints are examples of this<br />

type of coating.<br />

3.1.3 AQUEOUS DISPERSION COATINGS<br />

In a aqueous dispersion coatings, the polymer is not water–soluble at all. Rather, it<br />

exists as a dispersion or latex of very fine (50 to 500 nm diameter) solid particles<br />

in water. It should be noted that merely creating solid polymer particles in organic<br />

solvent, removing the solvent, and then adding the particles to water does not produce<br />

aqueous dispersion coatings. For these coatings, the polymers must be produced in<br />

water from the start. Most forms of latex begin as emulsions of the polymer building<br />

<strong>©</strong> <strong>2006</strong> <strong>by</strong> <strong>Taylor</strong> & <strong>Francis</strong> <strong>Group</strong>, <strong>LLC</strong>

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