APPLICATION INFORMATION
ADDITIVES FOR FORMULATING PAPER COATINGS

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Additives for formulating paper coatings

Contents
03 Introduction
05 Wetting and dispersing additives
06 Anti-settling additives
07 Defoamers and anti-foam additives
08 Surface additives
09 Rheology additives
10 Functional additives

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Introduction
Paper coatings can impart certain properties to the paper surface to deliver
an enhancement in performance over the uncoated base paper.
The inclusion of additives and functional reagents into coating formulations
provides tailored performance of an optimized paper surface.
BYK’s wide range of additives can be incorporated into the formulation to:• Assist in the preparation of a homogeneous coating color•	Aid in the coating process to provide the coating with ahigh-quality finish•	Improve the paper performance when compared to theuncoated base papers• Provide specialized functional performance

Note
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open in Adobe Acrobat.

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Additives for formulating paper coatings

Range of BYK additives for paper coatings
Coating color preparation

Improved coating process

Paper surface improvement

Functional paper surfaces

Wetting and dispersing
Defoamers
Rheology control
Surface active agents
Wax and polymer additives
Functional clay additives
T. 01

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Additives for formulating paper coatings

Wetting and dispersing additives
Paper coatings contain a number of pigments which requiresufficient wetting to allow the dispersion to remain stableand prevent agglomeration occurring (G. 01).
Effective dispersion within the coating color is essential toproviding the best performance, as poor dispersion may:
• Lead to uneven coating• Reduce performance• Damage coating equipment

Wetting of pigments to forma stabilized dispersion

BROOKFIELD-RV viscosity measurements for various
pigment slurries used in paper coatings

Ideal dispersion

Viscosity/mPa s-1

Agglomerated pigments

One method of evaluating efficiency of wetting is usingviscosity. A lower viscosity indicates a better performance.
As shown in G. 02, different additives work better fordifferent pigments:• DISPERBYK-199 is optimum for kaolin• DISPERBYK-190 is ideal for CaCO3• If the pigments are an acid clay or anatase titanium
dioxide, BYK-154 is preferred• DISPERBYK-102 or DISPERBYK-180 are recommended
for rutile TiO2

2000
1600
1200
800
400066 % solids kaolin

G. 01

Control  

BYK-154  DISPERBYK-190  

75 % solids CaCO3DISPERBYK-199

38 % solids acid clay

60 % solids anatase TiO2

G. 02

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Additives for formulating paper coatings

Anti-settling additives
If anti-settling properties are required, the recommended
product is OPTIGEL-WX. Designed to improve storage
stability in aqueous systems, OPTIGEL-WX is a powder
rheology additive. When 0.50 % is added to a TiO2
dispersion, previous sedimentation is no longer observed(G. 03).

Anti-settling effect in TiO2 dispersion
No additive

With OPTIGEL-WX

G. 03

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Additives for formulating paper coatings

Defoamers and anti-foam additives
Foam is unwanted in coatings as it can cause problems
when filling systems/containers and result in surface defects
during coating application. This not only is unsightly (G. 04),
but can affect the functional performance. As a result,removing or preventing foam is integral to a coating color.

Silicone-free defoamers

High-efficiency defoamers

BYK-012, BYK-1640 and BYK-1745 are defoamersdesigned for aqueous coatings that are VOC-free andsilicone-free. All three reduce foam efficiently fromdosages as low as 0.10 %.

BYK-022 is a VOC-free, silicone-containing defoamer for
aqueous coatings that is also effective against microfoam.
Due to its high incompatibility, the defoamer must be
incorporated at high shear to ensure good dispersion. It isparticularly suited to kaolin-containing coating colors.

The choice of defoamer is dependent on the formulation.
BYK offers a range of defoamer technologies for a widearray of paper coating formulations and regulatory
requirements.

Effect of defoamer in coating color

Testing of foam formation in coating colors

Coating color with no additive

No additive

Coating color with 0.2 % BYK-016

G. 04

With BYK defoamer

G. 05

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Additives for formulating paper coatings

Surface additives
BYK-3410
BYK-DYNWET 800 is BYK’s first recommendation forimproving the levelling properties of paper coatings (G. 06).
BYK-DYNWET 800 is a silicone-free substrate wetting
agent for aqueous coatings. It reduces the dynamic surface
tension of the coating color and the surface free energy of
the coated paper. BYK-DYNWET 800 along with BYK-3410
are especially suitable for machines with a fast operating
speed.

• Silicone-free• Approved for food contact• Reduces “egging”• Improves substrate wetting• Minimal impact on final
coating properties

BYK-DYNWET 800• Silicone-free• Improves substrate wetting• Improves in coating levelling• Low foam stabilization• Minimal impact on final
coating properties

Impact of BYK-DYNWET 800 on levelling coating surface

No additive

With 0.50 % BYK-DYNWET 800

G. 06

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Additives for formulating paper coatings

Rheology additives
During the coating process, a coating color will be subjected
to a wide range of shear conditions:• Preparation (usually high shear)• Storage (typically low shear)• Pumping through the system (varied)• Coating head application (method dependent)• Paper contact (rapid shear change)
To ensure the coating color remains stable, BYK offers awide range of additives to assist with rheological control.

To generate pseudoplastic flow behavior with a HASE
thickener, RHEOBYK-HV 80 is the recommended choice.
For low shear stability in aqueous systems,
RHEOBYK-H 3300 VF or RHEOBYK-H 7500 VF are
suitable depending on the degree of thickening required.
In addition, a number of our additives work in combination
to provide rheology modification under different shear.

RHEOBYK-T 1000 VF and RHEOBYK-T 1010 VF areassociative high shear HEUR thickeners which havea minimal impact on low shear viscosity.

Newtonian rheology modifiers provide high shear and elongational stability

G. 07

10Additives for formulating paper coatings

Functional additives
Paper coatings can not only provide a protective layer
to the paper surface, but also add specialized functionalperformance. BYK offers a range of additives which provide:• Anti-static properties• Barrier properties• Slip resistance• Scratch/rub resistance• Heat sealing• Thermal image transfer to a different substrate• Inkjet fixation
For more information on functional additives for specificapplications, please visit us on byk.com or contact yourlocal sales representative.

07/2023
K-A 3

Click here
for yourlocal contact
BYK-Chemie GmbH
Abelstraße 4546483 Wesel
GermanyTel +49 281 670-0
Fax +49 281 65735
info@byk.com
www.byk.com

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and VISCOBYK® are registered trademarks of the BYK group.
The information herein is based on our present knowledge and experience. The information merely describes the properties of our products but noguarantee of properties in the legal sense shall be implied. We recommend testing our products as to their suitability for your envisaged purpose prior touse. No warranties of any kind, either express or implied, including warranties of merchantability or fitness for a particular purpose, are made regarding
any products mentioned herein and data or information set forth, or that such products, data or information may be used without infringing intellectual
property rights of third parties. We reserve the right to make any changes according to technological progress or further developments.
This issue replaces all previous versions.