WESTERN COATINGS SHOW 2025

Developing a Sustainable Binder for Rapid Block Resistance in Decorative Enamel Paints

By, Jeff Mecham

Architectural enamel paints are essential for enhancing the durability and aesthetics of various substrates, especially in high-traffic and high-touch areas. For surfaces requiring a hard, easy-to-clean, low-maintenance coating, waterborne enamels offer several advantages, including ease of application, fast drying, low odor, and overall good performance. Key performance needs in this segment include rapid block resistance, surfactant leaching resistance, and degradation resistance from exposure to hand oils, household chemicals, sunscreen, skin lotions, and cleaning agents. Historically, architectural enamel paints relied heavily on hard binders and volatile solvents for performance.

With evolving VOC regulations and sustainability initiatives, formulators face challenges in removing VOCs and additives of concern while maintaining high performance. New solutions are needed to achieve the performance this market segment requires. Additionally, it is not enough to improve sustainability metrics; consumers demand higher performance benefits. This paper explores the development of binder technology that meets the latest sustainability requirements while improving hardness, block resistance, and surfactant leaching resistance when benchmarked against current commercial paints.