Recent research on nano-vapor nanomaterials in water-based coatings

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Recent Research on Nanovapor Nanomaterials in Water-Based Coatings Coatings refer to liquid or solid materials that are applied to the surface of objects; under certain conditions, they form a film that provides protection, decoration, or other special functions such as insulation, rust prevention, mold resistance, and heat resistance. Coatings are mainly divided into four categories: water-based coatings, solvent-based coatings, powder coatings, and high-solid-content coatings. Water-based coatings are those that use water as a solvent or dispersion medium. The advantages of these coatings include significant resource savings, reduced air pollution, improved working conditions, strong adhesion of the coating layer, good corrosion resistance, and excellent protective properties. However, there are still many issues that need to be addressed in their industrial application, such as low gloss, sensitivity to temperature and humidity, poor storage stability, tendency to sag, and low hardness of the coating layer. However, with the continuous advancement of green environmental protection concepts and increasingly stringent regulatory policies, water-based coatings, as the mainstream in the current coating industry, have experienced rapid development, with the industry scale expanding steadily. According to available data, in 2023 the market size of China’s water-based coatings industry was approximately 289 billion yuan, representing a year-on-year increase of 7.9%; the global water-based coatings market enjoyed a compound annual growth rate of 5.13%. 　　With the rapid development of water-based coatings, how to address issues related to their production and storage, application and drying processes, as well as the properties of the resulting dry film, remains a challenge that Hubei Huifu Nanomaterials Co., Ltd. continues to explore diligently. By utilizing gas-phase nanomaterials such as fumed silica, Huifu Nanomaterials has made significant progress in improving the stability of pigments and fillers in water-based coatings, preventing their sedimentation, enhancing rheological control, improving color intensity, adhesion, corrosion resistance, aging resistance, hardness, and scratch resistance. These advancements are evident in applications involving two-component acrylic systems, epoxy systems, and two-component alkyd systems. 　Nanotechnology researchers studied vapor-phase silica (added at 0.93%) in two-component acrylic systems. In the salt spray test (Figure 1), with the coating surface exposed to an environment of 35°C and 50 g/L saline solution for 1000 hours, both hydrophilic and hydrophobic vapor-phase silica performed well; there were no bubbles, peeling, or corrosion on the surface of the coatings.