Methacrylic Acid-Free Sulphonated Acrylic Copolymer for Coatings
Find Innovative SolutionsGenerate Solutions
Solution Overview
Problem
Existing coating compositions, particularly wood stain compositions, face challenges in controlling rheology and texture while maintaining suspensive properties, and there is a need for agents that do not use methacrylic acid due to environmental concerns and the toxicity of methacrylic acid derivatives.
Innovation Solution
A cross-linked, sulphonated acrylic copolymer P is developed using at least four monomers, including acrylic acid, ethyl acrylate, 2-acrylamido-2-methylpropane sulphonic acid, and a cross-linking compound, prepared without methacrylic acid to provide viscoelastic and suspensive properties.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If methacrylic acid is used to prepare copolymers for coating compositions, then the suspensive and viscoelastic properties are improved, but the environmental safety deteriorates due to the toxicity of methacrylic acid and its derivatives
Solution Approach 1:
The patent removes methacrylic acid from the copolymer composition entirely, extracting the harmful substance while maintaining the essential functional properties through alternative monomer combinations that do not include methacrylic acid or its derivatives
Solution Approach 2:
The patent combines multiple alternative monomers (acrylic acid, acrylic acid oligomers, cross-linking compounds, and other copolymerizable monomers) to create a synergistic composition that replicates and maintains the suspensive and viscoelastic properties previously achieved through methacrylic acid
2Reliability
If complex rheology control agents are added to coating compositions, then the viscoelastic properties are improved, but the device complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The copolymer composition prepared without methacrylic acid serves multiple functions simultaneously: it provides suspensive properties, controls rheology, delivers viscoelastic behavior, and ensures compatibility with binders and pigments, thereby reducing the need for multiple separate additives and simplifying the overall composition
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
The copolymer P enhances the viscoelastic and suspensive properties of coating compositions, improving their stability and compatibility, while avoiding the use of toxic methacrylic acid, thus offering improved performance and environmental sustainability.
Implementation Method 1
The viscoelasticity of a composition must therefore also be improved so that this composition has both viscous and elastic characteristics when it is deformed. The viscous component allows this composition to withstand shear flow and exhibit deformation that increases linearly over time when stress is applied. The elastic component allows a deformation when stress is applied and then the return to the original state once the stress is suspended.
Implementation Method 2
The desired suspensive effect of a composition is the ability to keep particles in suspension in a continuous phase, in a stable manner over time, for example while the composition is stored.
Data Source
AI summary
A crosslinked, sulphonated, acrylic copolymer may be prepared from at least four monomers and in the absence of methacrylic acid. Such a copolymer may be prepared into an aqueous composition having viscoelastic and suspensive properties, including such a copolymer. Such copolymer(s) may include, in polymerized form: (a) an anionic monomer comprising acrylic acid and/or an acrylic acid oligomer, optionally in salt form; (b) a non-ionic monomer comprising styrene, a C1-C8 acrylate ester, and/or a C1-C8 methacrylate ester; (c) a compound comprising 2-acrylamido-2-methylpropane sulfonic acid, 2-sulfoethyl methacrylate, sodium methallyl sulfonate, and/or styrene sulfonate, optionally in salt form; (d) a cross-linking compound or compound including a first and a second polymerizable olefinic unsaturation, wherein the copolymer comprises no methacrylic acid