Fluorinated additives for stain-resistant matt latex paints

Latex paints are often preferred over solvent-based paints due to their good gloss and color retention, ease of handling, and lower volatile organic contents. However, matt latex paints tend to show poor stain resistance since they develop highly porous and rough surfaces. In recent years, matt latex paints have been improved in their stain resistance with resulting better cleanability, by adding hydrocarbon acrylic polymers and fluorine-containing compounds. In this work, we prepared fluorinated acrylic emulsions of the copolymer of butyl acrylate (BA) and perfluorobutylethylene (PFBE), which were introduced in latex paint compositions. The properties of the modified paints were evaluated by performing stain resistance tests with several domestic products. It was observed that they had good stain release properties, thus conferring good properties to the final painting system. They contain the self-cleaning behavior typical of fluorinated coatings, which have been proven by the decrease of their surface energies. Since the cleaning procedures of a matt paint film can also impart some gloss increase, the wet and dry burnishes were also evaluated. The results have shown improvements in stain resistance and cleanability of the modified matt latex paints with the maintenance of their stability and the coatings gloss as required.