At present, vinyl and acrylic paints are the ones that have a greater representation in the percentage of sales in Latin American companies, so we will outline with experts in the area what is the present of this important segment of the industry. by Santiago Jaramillo H.
The volume of sales, as far as coatings are concerned, is dominated in the world market by the segment of vinyl and acrylic paints, and more if we talk about Latin America specifically. According to our guests for this edition of the magazine INPRA LATINA, it is estimated that this, depending on the country or geographical area, represents between 50 and 70% of the total size of the market.
Thus, warns the engineer Juan J. Caprari, researcher at the Center for Research and Development in Paint Technology (CIC-Conicet), which is based in Argentina, "the market for these paintings is, by far, the one with the highest volume in the world. The main niche is in home and construction paintings, as these products affect all orders of daily life and contribute to comfort at home, workplaces or the general atmosphere of a city."
In the same way, Caprari indicates that "it should be borne in mind that the list of products for different uses is extensive (...). Thus, it is possible to obtain outdoor paints, waterproofing for walls, liquid membranes for cement or metal roofs, 'stains' for wood, anti-sflorescences varnishes for exposed bricks, paints for painting aluminum and galvanized steel, oxide converters and the slow but safe introduction of anticorrosive and finishing products (hydrofowings), which will replace in the not too distant future the traditional solvent-based products", Emphasized.
Meanwhile, engineer Edison Acosta, director of the Technical Department of the Ecuadorian company Pinturas Cóndor S.A., said that "in Latin America the production of vinyl and acrylic paints is at a very high level that can exceed 50% of the total production of paints. The main use is focused on the construction industry in coatings for homes both outdoors and indoors."
For his part, Jorge Londoño, technical manager of the Colombian company Global de Pinturas S.A., indicated that the overall size of this segment "is in the order of 70% of the decorative market, both for interior and exterior," he said.
Advantages and disadvantages
As the engineer Caprari clarified, vinyl or acrylic resins are commonly referred to as emulsion paints, when in fact they are not. These resins are not emulsified but dispersed in water. The expression 'vinyl emulsion' or 'acrylic emulsion' is therefore erroneous, since these types of materials are aqueous dispersions of solid particles of a synthetic material. In the state of liquid paint, they are products of fluid consistency, more or less viscous. They are not emulsions but dispersions.
The expression emulsion paint, comes from the method of obtaining these synthetic resins that in general is the process called 'emulsion polymerization' that gives as a final result a dispersion of microscopic particles in water.
Likewise, Caprari stressed that "you can find dispersions of pure acrylic resins, of great flexibility, adequate elasticity and hardness, and of good resistance to aging and yellowing indoors. However, its high cost has meant that it is used only in high-performance coatings. In FMCG markets, they have been replaced by chemical modifications called copolymers. The resulting resin combines the balanced benefits of the reacting polymers. You have vinyl-acrylic copolymers, styrene acrylics, vinyl veova, and so on."
Likewise, this representative of the Argentine industry stressed that "in Latin America you can find, according to the different countries, different types of acrylic dispersions, which have often been imposed in each place by the preference of the formulators, the imposition of the type of resin by local producers or simply by the cost of dispersion. As far as I am aware, in countries such as Brazil or Peru, the custom is to formulate to a greater extent with acrylic vinyl resin, since the slightly acidic pH and its recognized interaction with cellulosic thickeners and slightly alkaline natural pigments ensure, in some cases, greater stability in the packaging of the products. Paints of adequate elasticity are obtained, with good adhesion to porous substrates (cement, wood, agglomerates) and non-porous (aluminum, galvanized steel), but of lower hardness. They have a slight residual tacking that increases their tendency to foul."
Argentina, on the other hand, as Caprari indicates "is a strong consumer of styrenic acrylic resins, based mainly on the fact of the superior binding power of these over vinyl-acrylics, which allows to formulate paints of higher content of solids with excellent aging behavior, good hardness and great resistance to wet rubbing. It has a lower tendency to fouling because it does not leave residual 'tack' once hardened. Finally, veova vinyl are high performance resins, very adherent, of good elasticity, although with a tendency to dust retention. In coating exposed to climatic agents they can be considered 'self-washable'".
Regulation, a subject of responsibility
In the Latin American area there is no unified regulation on the use of vinyl and acrylic paints, what is given is that in each country there are different entities that are responsible for the development of local regulations that regulate the elaboration and use of this type of paints.
Edison Acosta indicates that in Ecuador, for example, "there is the Ecuadorian Institute of Standardization (INEN), which is the body that issues the architectural paint standard NTE-1544, but it does not differentiate the use of vinyl-acrylic or acrylic paints and rather what it has established is a classification, according to certain technical characteristics with which a discrimination is made between interior paints and exterior paints. With this background, inen can certify, at the request of manufacturers, compliance with the standard for each type of paint that is required," he said.
As Caprari acknowledges, in the same way it works in Argentina, where "there are at least two entities in charge of regulating these types of paintings. One is the Ministry of Health, which dictates regulations for potentially dangerous components, for example the lead content in paints, through the National Directorate of Determinants of Health and Research, and another is the IRAM (Argentine Institute of Rationalization of Materials), which dictates the standards that different paints must meet depending on the type of service (interior, exterior, waterproofing, etc.) for which they must be formulated. In Europe, it is established by the European Commission for Environmental Protection, while in the United States the regulations come, in almost all cases, from the State Commissions."
The same happens in the Colombian case, where, according to Jorge Londoño, "the Colombian Technical Standard (NTC) 1335 governs".
Main novelties
According to the criteria of Edison Acosta it is very common these days to find paints based on acrylic resins modified with styrene for high resistance to alkalinity, adhesion promoters for sealants and even traffic paints, elastomeric acrylics used in the elaboration of waterproofing, etc. "Every time the specialization is wider and there is a large number of possibilities to obtain specific properties in each product. Acrylic resins have had technological changes that have currently allowed the development of new lines of uses such as high-gloss aqueous enamels and first anticorrosives for industrial use -systems of high water resistance-".
Regarding the changes or novelties, the engineer Caprari, said that "the main change has not occurred in the field of resins itself. Although I consider that the appearance of structured resins is a great advance towards obtaining resistant and 'friendly' coatings with the environment. Thus, in the first instance, the polymers of rigid core and elastomeric shell were obtained, where the material behaves like a reinforced elastomer, to the elastomeric core and rigid shell, which makes the resin behave like a high hardness plastic. In the first case, high performance protective paints for a wide variety of applications and in the second, a coating of high resistance to walkability, "he stressed.
For his part, the representative of the Colombian company Global de Pinturas S.A., stressed that the main change that has been presented is that "it has gradually gone from vinyl binders to vinyl acrylics and acrylics."
