TOLSA's high-performance UltraSpheres are making strong inroads in the U.S. paints and coatings market by delivering improved performance, reduced resin use, lower cost, and fewer volatile organic compounds (VOCs) in a range of applications.
TOLSA, a leading global supplier of specialized additives for the paints and coatings industry, featured its PANSIL® brand of UltraSpheres at the American Coatings Show (ACS) 2018 (Booth #2265) April 10-12 in Indianapolis.
TOLSA has built a strong presence in the U.S. spheres market and continues to expand its PANSIL® product line with a range of innovative materials. PANSIL® UltraSpheres are economical, high-performance silica alumina ceramic microspheres, used as fillers in a wide range of paints, coatings, mastics, and other construction materials. Compared to irregular-shaped and partially-spherical fillers, the 100% spherical shape of PANSIL® UltraSpheres provides improved processing and performance.
Spheres have the lowest surface area-to-volume ratio of any particle shape. As a result, PANSIL® UltraSpheres significantly reduce resin use, enabling most users to increase overall filler loading, and reduce total cost per gallon of their finished product. These features also provide an easy application of the coating with a perfect levelling even at high solids concentrations.
The 100% spherical shape of PANSIL® UltraSpheres allows the particles to flow easily over one another to measurably enhance flow, levelling, and application properties. PANSIL® UltraSpheres can even help control gloss without substantially increasing viscosity. Their perfect roundness and high strength have also been shown to measurably improve paint and coating resistance to both abrasion and burnishing. PANSIL® UltraSpheres have a Mohs hardness of 7, and their 100% spherical shape means the particles have no jagged edges that can break off.
TOLSA's UltraSpheres also deliver significant improvements in corrosion resistance. In the past, heavy-duty corrosion coatings have used platy materials, like mica, to create a barrier to prevent water, salt, and other corrosive materials from reaching steel substrates and causing corrosion. PANSIL® UltraSpheres' true spherical shape and mobility allow them to pack together tightly to create a similar barrier, without the risk that some platelets might protrude and create a pathway for corrosion. PANSIL® UltraSpheres' barrier properties, combined with their ceramic inertness, provide outstanding chemical resistance in a wide range of products.
Due to their very high strength, PANSIL® UltraSpheres can't be broken or reduced in particle size. It is recommended that they be added early in the grind phase, in order to fully break up any agglomerates.
PANSIL® UltraSpheres have been successfully used in a wide range of coating applications including high solids industrial, heavy-duty maintenance, marine, aircraft, water-reducible industrial, powder, coil, radiation-curable inks and coatings, primers, and polymer concrete.