Organic Fluorocarbon Coatings to Be Greener & Standardized
Year:2017 ISSUE:23
COLUMN:FINE & SPECIALTY
Click:335    DateTime:Jan.08,2018
Organic Fluorocarbon Coatings to Be Greener & Standardized

By Chen Hong, Society of Coatings and Finishes of CIESC

Environment-friendly coatings sell only in small volumes but show great market potential

Big-selling fluorocarbon coatings are classified into three major categories. The first is fluorocarbon coatings, led by PTFE emulsion. The second is FEVE coatings, with CTFE and TFE as major matrixes. The third is PVDF coatings with VDF polymer as the matrix.
The main FEVE coatings varieties are solvent-based, water-based and powder. Major producers of solvent FEVE resins in China include Changshu 3F Zhonghao Chemical New Material Co., Ltd., Daikin Industries, Eternal Chemical, Asahi Glass, Wuxi Wanbo Coating Chemical Co., Ltd., Jinan Hualin Chemical Co., Ltd., Sino-Rich Material Technology Co., Ltd., Fuxin Ruifeng Fluorocarbon Co., Ltd. and Dalian Zhenbang Group Co., Ltd. Around 6 kt sold in 2014, 7 kt in 2015 and 8 kt in 2016. Major producers of solvent FEVE coatings include Jolywood (Suzhou) Sunwatt Co., Ltd., Qingdao Runhao Fluorocarbon Material Co., Ltd., Shanghai Chen Hua Paint MFG Co., Ltd., Nippon Paint (China) Co., Ltd., COSCO Kansai Paint & Chemicals Co., Ltd., Shanghai Hengfeng Fluorocarbon Material Co., Ltd., Akzo Nobel Coating (Jiaxing) Co., Ltd., PPG Coating (Tianjin) Co., Ltd. and Chugoku Marine Paints (Shanghai) Co., Ltd. Output was 30 kt in 2014, 36 kt in 2015 and 44 kt in 2016. Consumption in the anticorrosion sector was quite stable at around 40% in those three years, while consumption for making construction materials dropped drastically from 15% to 1%. Consumption in the “new energy” sector increased rapidly from 35% to 60%.
The three PVDF coating varieties are solvent-based, water-based and powder. Major producers of PVDF resins include Inner Mongolia 3F Wanhao Fluorine Chemical Co., Ltd., Shandong Huaxia Shenzhou New Material Co., Ltd., Arkema, Solvay and Sinochem Lantian Co., Ltd. Annual sales hovered around 10 kt in the last three years. Major producers of solvent PVDF powder coatings include PPG Coating (Tianjin) Co., Ltd., KGE (Guangdong) Co., Ltd., Jiangsu Kaopule New Materials Co., Ltd., Nippon Paint (China) Co., Ltd., Akzo Nobel Coating (Jiaxing) Co., Ltd., Valspar Lilly Paint Industries (Shanghai) Co., Ltd., Shanghai Chen Hua Paint MFG Co., Ltd., Suzhou Colorway Enterprise Development Co., Ltd. and Beckers Industries China Paint MFG Co., Ltd. The market for solvent-based PVDF coatings is relatively stable. Application sectors and their consumption proportions are also quite stable. Coatings for curtain walls account for around 85% and coatings for coiled materials account for around 13%.
The main environment-friendly fluorocarbon coatings varieties are powder and water-based. The main varieties of powder fluorocarbon coatings are PVDF powder coatings, FEVE powder, soluble PFA powder, ETFE powder and ECTFE. Quite a lot of research has been done in China on thermosetting FEVE powder coatings, used mainly on aluminum profiles for buildings. Major producers include Asahi Glass and Sino-Rich Material Technology Co., Ltd. Annual sales are less than 100 tons. The sales volumes of thermoplastic PVDF powder coatings (mainly used in curtain walls) and PFA powder coatings and ETFE powder coatings (both used to combat corrosion) are all very small.
Water-based fluorocarbon coatings are classified into water-based PVDF, water-based FEVE and fluorine-containing acrylics. In 2016, sales of water-based fluorocarbon resins in China exceeded 900 tons. The biggest-selling producers include Wuxi Wanbo Coating Chemical Co., Ltd., Eternal Chemical, Fuxin Ruifeng Fluorocarbon Co., Ltd., Sino-Rich Material Technology Co., Ltd. and Dalian Zhenbang Group Co., Ltd.
Although sales of environment-friendly fluorocarbon coatings have never been big, the world’s urgent need for environment-friendly coatings drives R&D and application research for both powder and water-based fluorocarbon coatings, arousing great attention, and these technologies and their markets will surely see breakthroughs in the near future.

Applications expand constantly

Construction materials sector

Durable external wall fluorocarbon coatings and heat-insulating/decorative integrated boards coated with fluorocarbon coatings are mainly used in medium and high-grade buildings. They have excellent durability and stain resistance and will become mainstream products in the future.
Colored solar heat refractive coatings can be used not only in external walls for buildings, coiled materials and cool roofs, but also in marine drilling platforms, oil tanks and oil pipelines for the petroleum industry; surfaces of automobiles, trains and airplanes in the transportation industry; and hulls and decks of ships in the shipbuilding industry. For energy conservation and emission reduction, the first choice is colored solar heat refractive fluorocarbon coatings. A few dozen units in China are researching and producing refractive heat-insulating coatings. Research concentrates mainly on modifying filming substances and adjusting coating formulas.
Annual sales of PVDF fluorocarbon coatings used on aluminum profiles and aluminum curtain walls for buildings account for over 80% of the total sales volume of PVDF fluorocarbon coatings. Water-based fluorocarbon coatings and powder fluorocarbon coatings will surely become major varieties of fluorocarbon coatings used in aluminum profiles.

Anticorrosion sector

Forty to fifty percent of all FEVE fluorocarbon coating output is used in the anticorrosion sector. Bridges are the main corrosion battlefield. Highway construction in China will be intense in the next 10 years, and 40% of bridges will need maintenance/repair in that period. During 2016-2017, nearly 400 bridges were planned for major overhauls in Jiangsu, Zhejiang and Shanghai alone. Opportunities here are huge for fluorocarbon coatings.

New energy sector

Owing to the rapid development of the photovoltaic industry, the demand for backboards is increasing rapidly. Solar cell backboards are the fastest growing use of fluorocarbon coatings.
The varieties of anticorrosion finishes commonly used on wind power equipment are based on polyurethane. The market share of fluorocarbon finishes is very small. The use of fluorocarbon anticorrosion coating systems with excellent properties has two major advantages: 1) excellent weather resistance and corrosion resistance, reducing hidden risks in windmills; 2) extremely long service life, allowing fewer recoatings and consequently reducing maintenance cost greatly.

Product development is turning green & standardized

China has issued a series of laws and regulations to strictly control the emission of VOCs generated in the production, transportation and use of solvent coatings. Water-based fluorocarbon coatings will gain huge opportunities for application dissemination. The aluminum profile sector has urgent needs in the successful application of water-based fluorocarbon coatings and powder fluorocarbon coatings. In the upsurge of bridge construction today, matched water-based fluorocarbon coating systems are seldom used, so there is considerable development space. In the new energy sector, research on the application of water-based fluorocarbon coatings in integrated boards and photovoltaic backboards should be accelerated.
Fluorocarbon coating sales are comparatively small in the coating industry, but owing to their excellent corrosion resistance and weather resistance they have become leading super high-end coatings. It can be seen from Chinese patents released in 2016 that the development and application of environment-friendly fluorocarbon coatings such as water-based, powder and high-solid/low-viscosity varieties and functional fluorocarbon coatings have already become the main thrust in the sustained development of the fluorocarbon coating sector.
In view of all this activity, the National Paints and Pigments Standardization Technical Committee revised the “Standard for Cross-linking Fluorine Resin Coatings” (HG/T 3792-2005) in 2014. The latest research achievements and application experience in the fluorocarbon coating sector were absorbed. Foundations were provided for formulation of other industrial standards downstream. The National Paints and Pigments Standardization Technical Committee has already submitted an application to revise the “Standard for Hot Melt Fluorine Resin (PVDF) Coatings” (HG/T 3793-2005) and the “Standard for Water-Based Coatings for Buildings” (HG/T 4104-2009). Revised standards will further promote the technical progress and the application of water-based fluorocarbon coatings. The committee has also included the formulation of standards for powder fluorocarbon coatings in its work program. Quite a few government departments related to downstream application sectors such as the Ministry of Railways, the Ministry of Communications, the Ministry of Construction, the National Energy Administration and the Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development have also formulated a number of standards regarding properties of fluorocarbon coatings or matched systems to standardize and promote market acceptance of fluorocarbon coatings.