Growing Bigger, Getting Stronger
Working in international markets requires a high degree of expertise to meet different customers’ regional requirements; sometimes this can be challenging. However, innovation is what AkzoNobel does best.
Take satin coatings, for example. In most countries a satin coating is defined as being 50 to 60 gloss units (a standard industry measure) while in the Middle East it is defined as 77 gloss units. Although 77 seems high for a satin, the coating demanded in the Middle East actually looks as though it has a lower gloss level because it has a very waxy finish - making it very difficult to match.
But AkzoNobel met the challenge by producing different variants of its latest durable architectural coating, Interpon D1036. The finish was considered more important than the exact percentage of gloss so this needed special consideration. Another factor was the very high ambient temperatures in the region. Gareth Crapper, European Technical Manager says, “We faced a number of challenges and produced an excellent solution”. As a result a customer in Kuwait has now moved to trialing the powder.
Not content with this innovation for the architectural market, AkzoNobel developed an improved UV resistance variant of its durable “Interpon D” series. The carbon-fluorine chemical bond is one of the hardest to break, so coatings made with this chemical backbone are very UV-resistant. Liquid coatings containing C-F bonds (known as PVDF paints) have long been available, and although expensive can last 10 to 20 years without appreciable change in colour or gloss. Notes Gareth Crapper, “Their longevity ensures their attractiveness to architects, especially on more prominent and large buildings, but it had proved impossible to commercialise a powder coating based on this chemistry.”
The resulting product, Interpon D3000, was initially launched in Europe and Asia before it was released last year in the USA. Crapper comments, “It proved an immediate success and sales exceeded our expectations in the first year”. The coating is available in a range of earth colours.
Two other recent products featured improved scratch resistance for the furniture market – Interpon F1000 for interior furniture and Interpon F1500 for exterior furniture. In the coatings industry, scratch resistance is measured using calibrated test pencils; these coatings are at least ”1H” tougher than the equivalent competitors coating.
In the USA, AkzoNobel’s innovation has lead to a 4th generation acrylic hybrid technology being developed for better scratch resistance. Being free of PTFE it meets Haworth - the global furniture giant’s green credentials. It has been introduced at Haworth’s US plants and is now being transferred to the company’s Asian plants.