The Reason Why Wetting Agents in Water-based Coatings Become Thicker When Added Alone
Feb 05, 2024
The reasons why wetting agents in water-based coatings become thicker when added alone are as follows:
1. Although it is a water-based (cast) coating, in reality, in addition to water, there are also binders, suspensions, powders, and additives in the system. Therefore, in addition to dissolving or dispersing in water, wetting agents must also be added to make contact with other components or even react.
2. The pH value in the system is also a reference factor for adding wetting agents. The sensitive characteristics of many wetting agents determine their narrow applicability. There are many types of wetting agents, including oil-based and water-based, as well as oil-water dual-use. Obviously, oil-based wetting agents cannot be added to aqueous systems as they will float on the surface of the liquid, forming a phenomenon known as "greasiness".
3. Wetting agent has hydrogel property, which can be diluted with deionized water or purified water to make it disperse rapidly in the system, especially in the high viscosity system. If the wetting agent gel tends to be significant, and the concentration directly added to the local area exceeds the critical point of the gel, the block will become sticky or caked.
4. Therefore, after understanding the characteristics of the above-mentioned wetting agents, they can be diluted and added. In addition, you must select the corresponding wetting agent for the system. Why are there so many wetting agent products on the market? Firstly, there are countless wetting agents in various systems. One by one correspondence, the second is that there are too many wetting agents, which increases the confusion of user selection. For example, WET-10S and WET-10R are both water-based wetting agents. Whether to add 10S or 10R depends on other costs in the system and the requirements for the final coating product.
5. Adding too much wetting agent to a general system can lead to a decrease in the viscosity and spreadability of the coating, resulting in product scrapping. Adding too many systems will increase the tendency for bacteria to breed and easily spoil, so it is not best to add more.
If you feel sticky, you can dilute it with a small amount of water, but the amount should not be too much.
