Citation
(2005), "Ciba: breakthrough polymer technology for improved pigment dispersion wins R&D Award", Anti-Corrosion Methods and Materials, Vol. 52 No. 2. https://doi.org/10.1108/acmm.2005.12852bab.021
Publisher
:Emerald Group Publishing Limited
Copyright © 2005, Emerald Group Publishing Limited
Ciba: breakthrough polymer technology for improved pigment dispersion wins R&D Award
Ciba: breakthrough polymer technology for improved pigment dispersion wins R&D Award
An international team received the Ciba Specialty Chemicals R&D Award 2004 for a breakthrough technology leading to the development of products with superior pigment-dispersing properties. The technology has allowed the development of dispersants that improve pigment stabilization and rheology, and ensure more uniform coloration. Professor Jean-Marie Pierre Lehn, a recipient of the Nobel Prize for Chemistry and a member of the Board of Directors of Ciba Specialty Chemicals, presented the Award at this year's Research & Development Conference in Basel, Switzerland. The award-winning team accessed complex polymer structures (block copolymers) through nitroxide-mediated polymerization, a novel process that allows polymers to be tailor-made. Well- defined polymers offer new solutions in coating applications, for example for pigment dispersants. The tailor-made polymer structure enables specific interaction with the pigment, resulting in improved stabilization, rheology and color development.
The team is led by Clemens Auschra, Research, Coating Effects, Basel. Other members are Ernst Eckstein, Peter Harbers, Ralf Knischka, Andreas Kramer, Andreas Mühlebach, Peter Nesvadba and Frank Pirrung.
Process development and production scale up yielded two new commercial products, EFKA 4300 and EFKA 4330, which were introduced to the market in 2003. EFKA 4300, the first controlled-polymer dispersant for demanding, solvent-based paint applications, improves pigment stabilization and the rheology of pigment concentrates. EFKA 4330 is specifically designed for use in resin minimal pigment concentrates for industrial coatings, ensuring more uniform coloration in different paints. A paper on this new technology won the Prize of Excellence 2004 at the FATIPEC conference in April 2004.
Ciba Specialty Chemicals intends to commercialize novel polymer specialties based on this technology for other coating applications.