Water-borne symposium draws nearly 500 registrants. (1996 International Water-borne, High-Solids and Powder Coatings Symposium in New Orleans, LA)

New Orleans - Dr. Jeanne L. Courter, Cytec Industries, Inc., won the Elias Singer Best Paper Award at the recent 1996 International Water-borne, High-Solids & Powder Coatings Symposium here.

The 23rd annual symposium was co-sponsored by the Department of Polymer Science, University of Southern Mississippi, and the Southern Society for Coatings Technology.

Nearly 500 registrants represented 16 countries and 36 states. Shelby F. Thames, Polymer Science Department, said this was a good turnout, considering the current economy. He also said that over the years the quality of the meeting and the science has steadily improved. He cited professionalism in both presentations and visual aids. Next year's program is scheduled for Feb. 4-6, 1997, in New Orleans.

Courter's paper, "Mar Resistance of Automotive Clearcoats: I. Relationship To Coating Mechanical Properties," dealt with the a review of the correlations between properties of automotive clearcoats and mar resistance and a review of the scientific and patent literature.

Honorable mention was given to Eric H. Erenrich of AlliedSignal, Inc., for his paper, "Surface Analysis of High Solids Coating Via TOF-SIMS." The work showed that time of flight - secondary ion mass spectroscopy - is an extremely useful technique in characterizing coating surfaces.

Here is a recap of the papers and a comment about each one: Roger D. Hester, Polymer Science Department, delivered "The Rheology of Water-borne Coatings." He discussed measurement of paint flow properties and rheological controls needed to give high quality water-borne coatings. In addition, he discussed the rheology of a latex paint that must be controlled to produce an acceptable coating. Fluid flow conditions, he said, are varied because paint is sequentially taken from storage, applied to a substrate and then cured in place. Desirable films are produced only when paint viscosities and yield stresses are within limits at each process step, he said.

Gerald W. Heebner of Union Camp Corp. discussed "Novel Single-Component Curable Water-borne Dispersions From Polyamide Resins." The discussion included characteristics, such as shelf stability and other performance properties. Heebner said that novel, water-borne curable dispersions of polyamide resins had been developed to provide water and heat resistance for adhesive and coating applications requiring such demanding properties. These products are single-component curable systems that do not require the addition of a second component at time of use to cure.

Shelf stability of these dispersions, he said, …