The Waterborne Symposium

Abstract
The Evolution of Exterior Release Coatings
Co-authors: Amanda Andrews, and Mark Westfall

In a world of evolving performance, environmental and safety demands, silicone release coatings have met the challenge of not only increasing consumer safety and lessening their environmental impact, but also increasing their performance as well.  Silicone release coatings have evolved from tin catalyzed oxime based one-part RTV systems to less hazardous amine catalyzed one-part RTV systems, to finally, amine catalyzed moisture cured resin systems. This paper will outline the safety improvements that brought these coatings from having to be applied by contractors in respirators and chemical resistant clothing, to being able to be put on the shelves at local hardware stores to be applied by the homeowner with minimal PPE requirements. Silicone release coatings hold an important role in the market.  As we use them to protect surfaces from graffiti and weathering.  The performance of anti-graffiti has improved so that graffiti no longer requires harsh solvents to remove graffiti, but graffiti can be simply power washed away.
A new type of silicone release coating is the one component dry erase coating. This new coating can be applied and convert many substrates into idea spaces or lists that can be easily cleaned with a cloth or eraser. The low VOC property of this coating also makes it safe to use in homes or offices.  The current and previous market leaders have been successful by selling 2 part coatings with isocyanates, urethanes, and epoxies that have provided good performance, but at the cost of having hazardous chemicals in homes and offices.  The two part technologies also leave room for error of the applicators by needing to be mixed on site. To limit errors with mixing ratios, many formulation instructions require mixing the entire containers, but that leaves no extra product for patch up or doing multiple day applications.  This one part technology requires no on-site mixing and no special application equipment to apply.