Jim Reader graduated from the University of Warwick (UK) in 1988 with a Ph.D. in Chemistry. He joined Air Products and Chemicals in 1988 in Manchester (UK) as a Research Chemist and later an Application Development Chemist for the Epoxy Additives business. He then became Technical Manager for the Air Products Specialty Additives business in 1996 based in Utrecht, the Netherlands, and has worked in Europe and Asia before becoming a Lead Chemist in Allentown, PA in 2008. Dr. Jim Reader joined Evonik Corporation as a Senior Technical Manager in January 2017. He has extensive experience in the both the development and application of surfactants and defoamers in many different applications including paints, coatings, graphic arts, adhesives, concrete admixtures, and the production of latex gloves. He is the inventor of one patent and has written over 30 technical papers.

Coatings are complex mixtures of many different components that play a critical role in its manufacture, storage, application, and performance. The most critical components are the coating binder, pigments and fillers and the solvent or diluents. The binder determines the key performance properties of the coating like adhesion, mechanical properties, and chemical resistance. Pigments and fillers provide color and opacity and affect barrier properties and corrosion resistance. The solvent or diluent does not affect the final properties of the coating film but aids the manufacture, processing, and application of the liquid coating.

Additives can also be a major component of a coating formulation, although they are used in much smaller quantities than the other components. Bielemann defined coating additives as “any substances that are added in small quantities to a coating material to improve or to modify certain properties of the finished coating or of the coating material during it’s manufacture, storage, transport or application.”

There are many distinct types of additives for coatings based on different chemistries and functions. The most common types of additives are rheology modifiers, surface active agents, surface modifiers, flow and leveling agents, film forming additives, coalescents and catalysts, but there are many others. This course will describe how these different additives work and how they can be used in various coating formulations. It will also highlight some of the problems that can occur when using additives and how these can be avoided by careful product selection.