ETHOCEL™ - Improve the Durability of Specialty Coatings

Improve Coatings with Ethyl Cellulose

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What Is ETHOCEL™ Ethyl Cellulose?

ETHOCEL™ polymers are high-purity compounds produced to specific molecular weights and ethoxyl content. Ethyl cellulose is a naturally occurring, repeating anhydroglucose structure, with each structure containing three reactive hydroxyl sites. Compared to commercially available ethyl cellulose polymers, these polymers are manufactured to the highest quality standards and provide best-in-class purity and batch-to-batch consistency. A wide range of ETHOCEL™ grades are available for use in specialty coating applications to improve the overall durability of coating and adhesive formulations.

Ethyl Cellulose in Specialty Coatings

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Ethyl cellulose polymers are useful in many types of specialty coating applications for various substrates due to their unique combination of properties. They are often used to increase the durability and moisture resistance of paper and plastic films. Some common specialty coating applications where ethyl cellulose is particularly useful include paper, heat seal, adhesive, glass, and varnishes.

 

Paper Coatings

Due to its combination of flexibility and toughness, ethyl cellulose is often used as a binder in thin film coatings for paper. Good gloss, block resistance, and excellent water vapor transmission resistance are some benefits of formulating paper coatings with ethyl cellulose. Also, paper products exhibit improved moisture resistance when coated with a film of ethyl cellulose and are thus commonly used for packaging applications.

Adhesives and Heat Seal Coatings

Heat seal packaging for food and pharmaceuticals is a common application formulated with ethyl cellulose. Ethyl cellulose is soluble in most hot polymers, solvents, and oil and wax mixtures used in heat seal formulations. It also exhibits thermoplastic properties and can be applied as a coating using extrusion or molding techniques. It increases green bond strength, which is especially useful in applications when added to heat seal coatings, where resistance to stress is useful in freshly heat-sealed joints. Ethyl cellulose provides good adhesion to many plastic films and metal foils used in flexible packaging production.

Glass Coatings and Ink

Ethyl cellulose helps improve initial bond strength in glass coatings and is subsequently removed by heating. Since it burns out cleanly upon heating, it leaves no residue to interfere with long-term adhesion to glass. Ethyl cellulose is also commonly used for printing inks that must be applied to glass packaging because of its good adhesion and clean burnout. For these reasons, it works well as a temporary binder and rheology modifier for many solvent-based glass coatings and inks.

 

Recommended ETHOCEL™ Grades for Coatings

How to Formulate with ETHOCEL™

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Solutions of ETHOCEL™ in aromatic hydrocarbons are highly viscous, whereas solutions of ETHOCEL™ in methanol or ethanol have a much lower viscosity at the same concentrations. Films formed with ETHOCEL™ in primary alcohols are not commercially useful as they tend to be very brittle. The solvents used in a system determine the viscosity and film properties of ETHOCEL™. Listed below are the film properties and viscosity of ETHOCEL™ Standard 10 in common solvents.

Viscosity & Film Properties of ETHOCEL™ in Various Solvents

ETHOCEL™ Viscosity and Film Properties in Solvents

The most practical solvents for ETHOCEL™ in many formulations are mixtures with a suitable evaporation rate that provide the lowest viscosity consistent with good film properties. ETHOCEL™ is highly compatible with pigments, dyes, antioxidants, and most modifying polymers.

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