Deep cover

EU Infrastructure investigates the big issues currently facing the protective coatings industry. With Hoffmann Mineral GmbH & Co. KG and Tikkurila

“Properties like good corrosion protection for ships are required to reduce the cost of preventive maintenance and preservation”
-Alexander Risch

What applications within the infrastructure sector are your products used for?
Alexander Risch. There are a multitude of applications related to the use of our products in the coatings sector. One typical application is its use in electro deposition paints and automotive fillers. Neuburg Siliceous Earth stands out as functional filler because of its excellent properties in anti-corrosion coatings, powder coatings and UV-cured wood coatings. Additionally, there are many other application field in the coating sector, where our products Sillitin and the surface-treated Aktisil are successfully used.

Petri Järvinen. We are able to offer a full range of products and paint systems for the construction and protective coatings sector, not forgetting extensive services and support for the whole supply chain, from architects to facility owners. We offer help and support for choosing paint systems, technical service for application and inspection, and instructions for maintenance. We want to promote economical, environmentally compliant and user-friendly solutions for our customers operating in these sectors.

How do your products address the specific challenges placed on them by the infrastructure sector?
PJ. There has been a trend that customers are looking for long lasting, high-quality systems to protect infrastructure, and the awareness of VOC legislation has increased the demand for products and systems that fulfil this criteria. But due to the current economical situation, many customers have started to look at low cost materials, which is an alarming trend that will cause higher maintenance cost for facility owners in the future.

Despite this, Tikkurila continues to focus on marketing high-quality products, not forgetting the total economy of the painting process for contractors and facility owners. We are also able to offer a water-borne paint system for the C4 corrosivity category that is fully cured in eight hours, with the help of our Dry Tech technology.

AR. The market for protective coatings is huge and we would like to have a bigger stake in the area of marine paints and anti-corrosion coatings. Special requirements, which are necessary in these applications, are gained with our products. Here I would mention in particular a good chemical resistance, especially against acids and salt water, good weather permeability and anti-corrosion protection, and during processing an excellent dispersibility, as well as very little tendency towards sedimentation.

R&D is a big part of your operations. What are your current areas of focus in terms of new product development?
AR. We work with our own application technology department for coatings and our technicians are always working on finding new applications for our filler. Due to this know-how, we can support our customers in their development; we compile suggested formulations for many applications and we publish all results of our research projects in the form of technical reports on our website. The latest projects have been in the area of ST polymers for elastic sealants, road marking paints and pipeline coatings. This year we have started a considerable study in the application field of water-based wood coatings.

PJ. The driving force for our R&D has been the installation and production of VOC directives, which means that our main focus has been in high-solids and water-borne technologies that help customers meet the requirements set up in these directives. Alongside the environmental aspects, we always take into account the cost efficiency of our products, meaning shorter over-coating time between paint layers and the reduction of the number of layers in the protective paint systems. In addition, new high-solid products have enabled us to reduce the number of paint layers without sacrificing the corrosion protection performance.

We have also made a breakthrough in UV curing technology by developing a patented UVITEC drying device based on UV-led technology. The UVITEC technology offers many benefits for customers, such as energy savings, better surface quality and lower curing temperatures, and has won us a special award from the RadTech Europe Association.

The EU Commission’s VOC Directive and REACH legislation mean that compliance with regulatory requirements is now more important than ever for those in the paints and coatings business. What demands is this placing on the industry?
AR. Our filler, Neuburg Siliceous Earth, is a natural mineral raw material: a mixture of amorphous and crypto-crystalline silica and lamellar kaolinite, which was generated more than 95 million years ago in a part of South Germany. Our products have not been chemically processed or treated, and this is why the REACH registration is not applicable for us. Regarding the VOC Directive, our developments in coating exactly support these regulatory requirements to reduce the volatile content intensively. The above-mentioned projects regarding powder coating and water-based wood coating show this in an excellent way. It is of great importance to focus intensively on the reduction of contaminant loads, especially in the application of paints that are used at home or that come into contact with people.

PJ. Environmental issues have always been very important for us, as our main factory has been Vantaa, Finland from the very beginning. Also, the legislation concerning paints and coatings has been much more demanding in our main market area of the Nordic countries than in other parts of Europe, and we have always wanted to be ahead of legislation concerning environmental and safety issues.

What do you see as the biggest challenges in the protective coatings industry over the next few years? And what are the biggest opportunities?
PJ. From a paint technology point of view, I refer to my previous answers; but environmentally compliant products and cost efficiency are the driving forces in the near future as well. I also believe that in the long-term, raw material development will enable the development of new, innovative functionality coatings, meaning totally new properties for protective coatings.

But what can be seen is that the importance of services and distribution are increasing in the protective coating sector. Our customers want to focus on their core businesses and this requires more support and consultancy from paint suppliers with architects, engineers, painting contractors and facility owners.

AR. In my opinion, marine coatings are a big challenge. We should not forget that properties like good corrosion protection for ships are required to reduce the cost of preventive maintenance and preservation. This is essential for the cost-intensive shipping market. Nevertheless, the powder coatings market is also a big opportunity. The EU regulation regarding the ecological contamination caused by anti-corrosion pigments was the focus of one of our latest studies, and we were successful in developing a formulation based on Neuburg Siliceous Earth, by which one can reach the limited values under the same excellent performance. This aim will be also very important for the future.

Alexander Risch joined Hoffmann Mineral GmbH & Co. KG on October 1, 1999. In 2001 he became responsible for the business unit of Toll Manufacturing, a service that includes all kinds of modification of inorganic raw materials for different industries, realised with the production facilities and knowledge of Hoffmann Mineral. Since 2006, Risch has been Head of Marketing and Sales, responsible for all sales activities worldwide.

Petri Järvinen works as a Vice President in Tikkurila's SBU Industrial Coatings, where he is responsible for Technology and Business Support functions. He now has close to 30 years’ experience in this specific area, having worked in a variety of different positions in the paint and coatings industry.