Predicting Defoamer Performance in Coating Formulations C. James Reader and K.T. Griffin Lai Air Products and Chemicals, Inc., 7201 Hamilton Boulevard, Allentown, PA 18195-1501 C. James Reader,
[email protected], 610-481-7380 K.T. Griffin Lai,
[email protected], 610-481-7069 Introduction What is the usual procedure for finding a defoamer for a new waterborne coating formulation? For many companies, the procedure appears to be as follows: try the defoamers that you currently use and know; if these don’t work then try samples in the lab, ask a colleague or friend or, maybe, ask a supplier. This approach makes good sense when working with formulations that are similar, as defoamers will usually give consistent performance in similar formulations. However, when these tried and trusted defoamers don’t work, the Chemist has the frustrating task of trying to find a suitable product from a large selection of mysterious bottles on his or her lab bench. There is a truism in England that goes “if all else fails, read the instructions”; however, defoamers don’t usually come with instructions. Wouldn’t it be nice if they did? The difficulties in finding a suitable defoamer exist because the performance of each and every defoamer is affected by the formulation it is used in; change the formulation and the defoamer performance may often change as well. Defoamer selection is also one of the last steps in readying a formulation for final use, so the rest of the formulation is already mostly decided and the defoamer has to work with this.