Abstract
Manufactures of automotive repair finishes are tending to reduce more and more the level of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) in their paint processes in order to comply with increasingly strict environmental legislation. The production of high solids paints is a way to solve this problem. However, the application of high-solids paints is limited primarily by the viscosity of resin which is strongly related to painting ability: the higher solid content, the lower desired property. In this study, alkyl copolymer with low viscosity was synthesized by the introduction of the monomers with long-side chains and functional groups which improve flexibility and cross-linking density, respectively. The solid content of the paint prepared with the synthesized resin was 80wt% and its VOCs was reduced by 20%, compared to the commercialized paint. Also, the physical and mechanical properties of coatings on steel sheets were similar to commercialized one.
