Advanced Opacifying Technology

Opacity Pigments - Cost Saving Opportunities

in Architectural Coatings
Paul Dietz, FTSC
FP-Pigments, OY
Raisionkaari 55
FI-21200, Raisio
Finland
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Generating Opacity in a Coating

• Opacity or Hiding Power is the ability of a substance or coating to obscure a

substrate of contrasting colour
• Opacity can be achieved in two ways

– Through the absorption and/or scattering of light

• For the opacity in white coatings it is light scattering that is most important
– In fact absorption is not desirable

• In order for a coating to be opaque (and white) it needs to be able to bend and
scatter light before it reaches the substrate
• The bending of light is governed by the refractive index of the various materials in
the coating and the differences between them
0.0
0.5
1.0
1.5
2.0
2.5
3.0
2.70
Titanium Dioxide - Rutile
Titanium Dioxide - Anatase 2.55
Diamond 2.42
Zinc Sulphide 2.37
Zirconium Oxide 2.20
Zinc Oxide 2.03
Antimony Oxide 2.00
Lead Carbonate (White Lead) 2.00
FP-460 1.85
Lithopone (BaSO4/ZnS) 1.82
Dolomite 1.68
Barium Sulphate 1.64
Example Refractive Indices

Calcium Carbonate 1.63

Optiwhite MX 1.62
Talc 1.58
Mica 1.56
China Clay 1.56
Calcined Clay 1.56
Alkyd Resin 1.52
Styrene Acrylic Binder 1.51
Acrylic Binder 1.48
Silica 1.47
Opacilite 1.39
Opaque Polymer (Dry) 1.35
Water 1.33
Air 1.0008
Vacuum 1.00
Opacity - Scattering of TiO2 & Extender Compared

Titanium Dioxide RI 2.7 Calcium Carbonate RI 1.63

Opacity of a TiO2 Pigmented Film
Opacity of a CaCO3 pigmented film
Replacing TiO2 Pigment

• For the highest opacity and tint reducing power there is no alternative to TiO2

• However, TiO2 is often used inefficiently, particularly in waterborne coatings

• Conventional waterborne coatings can be under-utilising TiO2 by up to 40%

• The main causes of this poor performance are pigment crowding and pigment
flocculation

• All waterborne coatings currently under-utilise TiO2, however the issue is at its
greatest in high to medium pvc coatings where high levels of large extenders and
relatively high levels of soluble salts can be present.
TiO2 Efficiency in coatings

• The Issue
– Poor pigment distribution and flocculation leading to the inefficient use of
TiO2 pigment particularly in waterborne coatings

Pigment flocculation and crowding on drying

3µm Extender 0.8µm Extender <0.5µm Extender

Pigment crowding reduces as Extender particle size decreases
Pigment Dispersion Stability During Drying

TiO2 Pigment
Emulsion
Cost Effective Opacity

There are well established ways to improve the efficiency of the TiO2

– Pigment Coatings
• Heavily coated grades for high pvc coatings

– Dispersants
• Block Copolymers for steric stability

– Extenders
• Reduce crowding by fillers, “Dilution Theory”

– Functional Extenders
• Provide opacity, “spacing”, additional features to the coating

– Binders
• Size is critical

– Functional Binders
• Combine “spacing” size with “forced” interaction
Alternative White Pigments

• In addition to extending titanium dioxide it is also possible to partially substitute

the TiO2 with an alternative white pigment such as Lithopone or HITOX®.

• FP-Pigments produce a range of alternative white pigments based on TiO2 which

combine the functionality of a TiO2 spacer with the high performance of an
alternative white pigment to provide true cost effective opacity.

FP-400 Series for Coating

FP-500 Series for Plastics
FP-600 Series for Printing Inks

HITOX® is the registered trade mark of TOR Minerals

Product Concept

• FP-Pigments produce composite pigmentary products for the paints, plastics, inks
and paper industries
• These composite pigments are designed to provide significant improvements in
the optical properties of coatings whilst maintaining other coating requirements
• The use of FP-Pigments allows the coatings manufacturer to produce higher
performance products or to reduce their raw material costs through partial TiO2
replacement

Reducing TiO2 flocculation .... ..... to give improved TiO2 spacing

Loose TiO2 FP-Pigments Composite

Product Performance

FP-Pigments composite combines several performance characteristics to improve the

efficiency of TiO2 and introduce additional scatter.

1. TiO2 contained within the Opacity Pigment has improved spacing

2. The presence of TiO2 in particle removes the “window” effect seen with extenders

3. Potential for improved dispersion and “spacing” due to dilution effect

4. The surface structure of the pigment introduces more surface reflection through
diffuse scatter and air entrapment at surface
 TiO2 contained within the Opacity Pigment
has improved spacing

• FP-460 and TiO2 were compared in a model system to show the performance
difference in terms of equivalent TiO2 volume
• Paint Composition:
~5% TiO2 vc & ~30% PCC vc

Contrast Ratio
70.0
69.5
Contrast Ratio

69.0
68.5 Increase in opacity of 2.1 units
equating to approximately 25%
68.0
more scatter.
67.5
67.0 This model performance shows that
Standard FP460 the TiO2 used in the FP composite is
approximately 25% more efficient
Both paints contain equivalent levels of TiO2 and precipitated
calcium carbonate, in the standard paint they are dry
than the loose TiO2 used in the
blended in the FP460 paint they are in the composite form paint.
The presence of TiO2 in particle removes the
“window” effect seen with extenders
 Potential for improved dispersion and “spacing”
due to dilution effect

• In replacing the TiO2 by weight, a much larger number of TiO2 particles are
removed than FP particles are added .
– <4% of the particles removed are added back
• Eg
– For a 17% TiO2 vc, 51% Evc paint a film of size 200 x 100 x 100µm contains:
• ~ 24 million TiO2 particles

– A 15% replacement by FP-Pigment reduces the number of particles in the

same volume to
• 20 million TiO2 particles (a reduction of 4 million)
• 120000 FP-Particles

– With far fewer TiO2 particles, the inter-particle distance will be increased
• Distance in the Standard between TiO2 particles = 70nm
• Distance in the 15% FP paint between TiO2 particles = 91nm
– A 30% increase
The surface structure of the product

Small indentations at the particle surface are difficult to wet-out with the
binder leading to areas of entrapped air at the surface. These areas have an
increased refractive index difference both between binder and air and
Carbonate and air compared to binder and carbonate giving higher levels of
scatter.

Binder
Air

Light bent once Light bent Twice

Interface RI Difference
CaCO3 and Binder 1.63 – 1.49 = 0.14
CaCO3 and Air 1.63 – 1.0008 = 0.623
Binder and Air 1.49 – 1.0008 = 0.489
Combining Multiple Effects provides better replacement potentials

• Functional extender comparison

Weight for Weight Exchange Adjusted to Equivalent Dry Hiding

81

80

79
Reflectance

78

77

76

75
Control FP-460 Barium Flash Calcined Fine Calcium Fine Hydrous
Sulphate type Clay Carbonate Clay
Comparison of Alternative Opacifiers/Spacers
10% Replacement at Equivalent Dry Hiding 20% Replacement at Equivalent Dry Hiding
FP-Pigments - The Solution Multiplier

• For coatings that have already been optimised through the use of Functional
Extenders, FP-Pigments can offer the potential for further TiO2 savings whilst
maintaining your product performance

A combination of the “-5%

Matt Paint Optimisation optimised” paint with a
further TiO2 reduction of
10% using FP-460 provides
95.6 Customer considers the -5% the same coating
TiO2 paint to be a performance with
95.4 performance match additional cost savings

95.2
Contrast Ratio

95
94.8
1.6 ₵/l Saving

3.0 ₵/l Saving

4.2 ₵/l Saving

5.6 ₵/l Saving

1.4 ₵/l Saving

2.0 ₵/l Saving

3.0 ₵/l Saving

94.6
94.4
94.2
Original - 5% TiO2 - 10% TiO2 - 15% TiO2 - 20% TiO2 - 10% TiO2 - 15% TiO2 - 15% TiO2

Optimisation using a Functional Extender to Optimisation using FP-460

replace TiO2 to replace TiO2
Conclusions

• The drive towards reducing coating costs is as intense as ever: TiO2 is one of the
top raw material spend areas for most paint producers
• Existing functional extenders can provide potential reductions in TiO2 use by 5% to
10% (very occasionally 15% with some performance reduction)
• New functional binders can assist in “spacing” TiO2 and improving efficiency
• FP-Pigments novel approach of “encapsulated” TiO2 has been proven
commercially to provide TiO2 savings of between 5% and 50% (100% in very
special circumstances)
• FP-Pigments are solution multipliers working alone or in conjunction with
function extenders and binder to provide cost effective opacity and optimum
coating performance
 Advanced Opacifying Technology

Thank You!

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