SELF-CROSSLINKING WATER BORNE CHEMISTRY FOR EXCELLENT SHELF STABILITY

AND ROOM TEMPERATURE CURE

Presenter Author: Dr. Brian Hanrahan

KH Neochem Americas, Inc.

INTRODUCTION

In recent years, the usage of water borne resins has been growing in response to the requirement to
improve local air quality by reducing volatile organic emissions (VOC). Concern about VOC is also driving
the trend of reducing the solvent content in water borne coatings. This has led to the challenge to provide
good coating performance without the use of solvents to enhance film formation and coalescence. Resin
chemists and formulators use a number of tools to maintain coating performance at ever lower VOC levels.
One option available to resin chemists is to use a “Self Crosslinking” resin. Self crosslinking in this paper
refers to a chemistry that is stable in the can for a long time, hopefully years, but will crosslink the resin
binder at room temperature after film formation to improve the final coating properties. There are a few
chemistries that fit this definition of self crosslinking, including oxidative cure. However, this paper will
focus on the reaction of a ketone group from the monomer diacetone acrylamide (DAAM), with the
crosslinking agent adipic dihydrazide (ADH). The reaction between these groups eliminates water which is
part of the reason the system is stable during storage as wet emulsion or paint. Since only water is
produced in the crosslinking reaction, no additional VOC or troublesome reaction products are created by
this chemistry. The mechanism for the crosslinking reaction is illustrated in Figure 1. The rate of reaction is
much higher at low pH and is almost nonexistent at a pH above 7(1). Good in can stability can also be
attributed to the high pH normally found in wet acrylic emulsions. One would expect a combination of both
intraparticle and interparticle crosslinks as the ADH reacts with the DAAM monomer units. Interparticle
crosslinks will build solvent resistance and gel fraction more efficiently, but both types of crosslinks should
improve performance in general.

While this paper will focus on emulsion resins using the crosslinking between DAAM and ADH, other work
has covered the potential to use this chemistry in other types of resins such as polyurethane dispersions(2).
Diacetone Acrylamide (Monomer)
Diacetone acrylamide, as a monomer, is provided as solid flakes. However, the monomer is easily
dissolved into warm water and many other monomers. Diacetone acrylamide has unique polarity in that it
is 100% soluble in water and 100% soluble in Styrene. The monomer is fairly hard with a Tg of around
85° C(3).

Table 1: Physical Properties of Diacetone Acrylamide(3).

Boiling Point (C/8mmHG) 120
Melting Point (C) 56.0 - 57.0
Flash Point (C, open cup) 126
Viscosity (cps, 60°C) 17.9 (molten)
Specific Gravity (60°C) 0.998 (molten)
H20 >100
Solubility Methanol >100
(g/100g solv. 25°C) Ethanol >100
Acetone >100
THF >100
Benzene >100
Acetonitrile >100
Styrene 98
n-Heptane 1.0

The reactivity ratios of diacetone acrylamide with other standard monomers are provided in Table 2.

Table 2: Reactivity Ratios of diacetone acrylamide with other monomers(3).

Monomer
M1 r1 r2
Acrylic acid 0.49 0.92
Methyl Acrylate 1.13 1.55
Ethyl Acrylate 2.93 0.98
Methyl methacrylate 1.68 0.57
Styrene 1.77 0.49
Acrylnitrile 3.38 0.86
Acrylamide 0.67 1.13

Experimental

Emulsion Polymerization
The emulsion polymerization was conducted in glassware under a nitrogen atmosphere. A pre-emulsion
prepared in a feed tank of the monomers and surfactants to be used were stirred at room temperature. A
separate catalyst solution was also prepared. The emulsion reactor was heated to 80° C and a small
amount of the pre-emulsion was pumped into the reactor (1.5 wt %) followed by 35% of the initiator
solution. This was stirred for 15 minutes. Then, both the remaining pre-emulsion and initiator solution were
pumped into the reactor over the next 3 hours at 80° C with continuous stirring and nitrogen purge. After
all of the ingredients were added, the reaction was continued for another 2 hours to ensure good reaction of
the monomers. The emulsion was then cooled to 30° C and neutralized with ammonia to a pH of between
8 and 9. Other neutralizing agents have been used in other work, but this paper will focus on ammonia. A
solution of adipic dihydrazide was then added to resins that contained DAAM. All of the emulsion resins
were filtered before storage. An example of an emulsion containing DAAM is provided in Table 3.
Table 3. Emulsion resin composition.

Composition Emulsion / Polymer Properties

Reactor Deinonized water 90.0 g Non-Volatile ca. 50%
Deinonized water 372.0 g Acid Value 7.2 mgKOH/g
(1 wt% /
Rhodapex CO-436* 8.2 g Polymer) Particle Size 0.22 µm
(1.9 wt% /
DAAM 9.4 g Polymer) pH 9.0 (NH3 aq.)
(0.9 wt% /
AA (Acrylic acid) 4.6 g Polymer) Viscosity 99 mPa･s
Feed tank A
(Pre- (15.1 wt% / Tg
emulsion) St (Styrene) 74.6 g Polymer) (calculated.) -14 °C
MMA (Methyl 80.3 g (16.3 wt% / Tg -12 °C
methacrylate) Polymer) (measured.)
BA (Butyl acrylate) 195.2 g (39.5 wt% /
Polymer)
2EHA (2-Ethylhexyl 129.6 g (26.3 wt% /
acrylate) Polymer)
(Total) 873.9 g
Deinonized water 34.6 g
Feed tank B
Ammonium persulfate 1.46 g (0.3 wt% /
(Catalyst
Polymer)
solution)
(Total) 36.1 g
Total 1000.0 g

Different resin compositions were used to adjust the resin Tg over a range of calculated Tgs from -30° C to
+30° C. Most of the data was collected with resins having a 0 Tg. The monomer compositions for the
different resins used in this work are provided in Table 4

Table 4: Monomer compositions and calculated Tg for resins evaluated in this paper.
Monomer wt%
BA MMA Styrene 2-EHA MAA AA DAAM Surfact. Acid # Calc. Tg
1 53.1 45.4 1.5 0 3 10 0
2 53 43.6 1.5 1.9 3 10 0
3 52.7 40.8 1.5 5 3 10 0
4 34.2 64.3 1.5 0 3 10 30
5 33.8 59.7 1.5 5 3 10 30
6 40.2 17.9 15.1 25.9 1.5 0.9 0 1 7.2 -30
7 39.5 16.3 15.1 26.3 0.9 1.9 1 7.2 -30
8 40.2 13.2 15.1 25.6 0.9 5 1 7.2 -30

Adipic dihydrazide was added to the emulsion as a separate solution at 0.8 Equivalents to the diacetone
acrylamide ketone groups for resins 2,3,5,7 and 8. For each 1 weight percent of DAAM used in the resin,
around 0.4 weight percent of ADH would be added. All of the resins used 0.3 wt% of ammonium persulfate
as the initiator.

Film Preparation
Clear emulsion films were drawn down onto zinc phoshpated steel panels to a dry film thickness of 30 um.
The films were allowed to dry at a standard condition of 23 °C at 50% relative humidity. Unless noted in the
data, all films were allowed to dry for 1 week before testing.

Other conditions for film preparation:

• Scrub resistance, stress/strain data and some water resistance. Scrub resistance included TiO2
pigment at a PVC of 22% to make the test more realistic.
 • Stress/Strain Test Specimen: Dumb-bell #3 (JIS A 6021). Dumb-bell specimens were 1 mm thick
and involved heating to 40° C to remove water from the films. Films were allowed to sit for 1 day at
23° C and then 2 days at 40° C demolded and another day at 40 °C.
• Block resistance and Hot-cold check testing was run on cedar planks.

Film Testing
• Pencil hardness: JIS5400, evaluated by break of paint film. This is not scratching the film, but film
removal.
• Chemical Resistance: Solvent rubbing, Load of 500g, the number of double rubs before the
appearance of paint film changes.
• Gel fraction: 19 samples of paint film were extracted by Tetrahydrofuran under reflux. The weight
ratio of the residue is measured as the gel fraction.
• Adhesive property: JIS5400, Cross-cut test
• Scrub Resistance: ASTM D2486-06
• Block resistance on wood panels was measured by stacking coated panels and heating them at
55° C for 10 days. The tendency of the panels to stick together was rated.
• Hot-cold cycle test had coated cedar panels cycle between 60° C for 2 hours and then -20° C for 2
hours through 5 cycles. The panels were then visually rated for cracks.
• Mechanical properties used test specimen: Dumb-bell #3 (JIS A 6021). The tests were run at 23° C
with a crosshead speed of 200 mm/min.

Results

Emulsion Stability and Film Cure

Emulsion resins that contain a backbone of diacetone acrylamide with adipic dihydrazide as a crosslinking
component have good in-can stability. We compared the emulsion resin properties of a “self crosslinking”
and standard thermoplastic emulsion just after production and after aging for 4 weeks at 40° C. The main
difference is in a viscosity change that seems similar between the 2 types of resins as shown in Table 5.

Table 5: In can stability comparison of a thermoplastic and self crosslinking resin.

DAAM Content (wt%) 0 wt% 1.9 wt%

Hydrazide (ADH) None 1.0 eq.
Initial Viscosity(mPas) 71 67
pH 9.2 9.2
Particle size(µm) 0.106 0.106
4 week after at 40° C Viscosity(mPas) 55 57
pH 8.9 8.9
Particle size(µm) 0.106 0.106

Film Drying and Crosslinking

The rate of crosslinking is affected by both the presence of water and the pH of the film. As the film dries
and the pH decreases crosslinking will start. Anything that would speed up the loss of water and create a
faster rate pH decrease would be expected to increase the rate of crosslinking. One approach to faster
crosslinking is increasing the acid value of the emulsion resin. This was evaluated by comparing the
change in pencil hardness with time for resins that have a range of acid values. Pencil hardness increased
faster in films with a higher acid value as illustrated in Figure 2. The pencil hardness listed is total failure of
the film. Other work has also shown that this chemistry will react more quickly at lower pH(1). The film
should coalesce before crosslinking in order to have good film properties. One way to slow down the
crosslinking reaction, allowing more time for film formation, is to use larger amines that evaporate more
slowly. Heat would be expected to affect the rate of crosslinking, but we have not studied this in detail.
Dried Film Properties
Diacetone acrylamide and adipic dihydrazide will react under ambient conditions in the dried film. Gel
fraction increases from 0% to 95% with the use of 2wt% DAAM. In Figure 3, the solvent rubs using both
ethanol and xylene are compared for emulsion resins 1, 2 and 3 in Table 2. The solvent rubs observed
increases for both solvents with the DAAM content or the amount of crosslinking in the film. Scrub
resistance also increases with crosslinking as illustrated in Figure 4.

The results reported in this study are generally for films dried under ambient conditions of 23° C and 50%
humidity. The influence of DAAM/ADH crosslinking was evaluated on films force dried at 80° C for 3
hours. Gel fraction increased from 0 to 99% with the use of 2wt% DAAM and 1 equivalent of ADH.

Resins 4 and 5 from Table 2 were evaluated for application in wood coatings. Some coalescing solvent
was added to the emulsion to help film formation at 23 °C. Figure 5 provides a comparison between the
film properties of the 2 resins. Solvent resistance, block resistance and impact strength were all improved
by crosslinking the resin. In addition, the crosslinked resin had improved toughness as demonstrated by
much better hot/cold check cycle resistance on a cedar plank.
A soft resin was made with a Tg of -30° C to check the potential for this chemistry in elastomeric coatings
for concrete. We compared the resins 6, 7 and 8 from Table 2 for their mechanical properties. The films
become dramatically harder as the DAAM concentration increases as seen in Figure 6. One can easily
control the tensile properties of a dried emulsion film by incorporating some DAAM into the resin and
adding ADH to the emulsion. Crosslinking also increases the durometer hardness of the films, Figure 7.
Harder films are less tacky and have better dirt pickup resistance. Another study made resins containing
DAAM and then compared the mechanical properties of the resins with and without ADH. Adding ADH to
crosslink the resins lead to improved mechanical properties(4).
Conclusions
The use of Diacetone acrylamide and adipic dihydrazide will improve the performance of emulsion and
other types of water borne resins. The crosslinking chemistry provides good in-can stability, but will
crosslink dried films at room temperature to improve solvent, scrub and dirt pickup resistance. It has also
been observed, that film hardness has improved when incorporating this chemistry into water borne resins.
Force dry can also be used with this crosslinking system.

Acknowledgments
I would like to thank Mr. Akihiro Gonno of our Yokkaichi research laboratory for his extensive work
and help on this project.

References
1. N. Kessel, D. Illsley and J. Keddie, Journal of Coatings Technology Research, 5, 285-297
(2008).
2. X. Zhu, Q. Zhang, L. Liu, X. Kong and S. Feng, Progress in Organic Coatings, 59, 324-330
(2007)
3. Technical information sheet, Diacetone Acrylamide, N-(1,1-Dimethyl-3-Oxobutyl )-
Acrylamide, KH Neochem Co., LTD. pages 3, 9
4. C. Koukiotis, M. Karabela and I.Sieridou, Progress in Organic Coatings, 75, 106-115 (2012)