What are the differences in strength and cost between environmentally friendly water-based PVC coatings and traditional solvent-based coatings?

Introduction

With increasingly stringent environmental regulations and growing consumer concern for health and safety, environmentally friendly water-based PVC coatings are gradually becoming an alternative to traditional solvent-based coatings.

Traditional solvent-based coatings use organic solvents (such as toluene and xylene) as diluents, resulting in high emissions of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) during application, which not only pollutes the environment but also endangers workers' health. Environmentally friendly water-based PVC coatings use water as a solvent, with extremely low VOC content (some products can be reduced to below 8g/L), complying with international environmental standards such as EU REACH.

Strength Performance Comparison

1. Physical and Mechanical Properties

Water-based PVC coating: Strong adhesion: Excellent adhesion to substrates such as PVC, paper, and metal, especially suitable for PVC artificial leather and textile back coatings.

Abrasion and scratch resistance: By adding self-crosslinking monomers and fillers (such as talc powder and barium sulfate), the film hardness can reach HB to 2H, and the abrasion resistance is superior to traditional solvent-based coatings.

Chemical resistance: Outstanding acid and alkali resistance and salt spray resistance, suitable for marine engineering and chemical equipment corrosion protection.

Traditional solvent-based coatings: Poor weather resistance: Easily affected by UV aging, prone to powdering and peeling after long-term exposure.

Insufficient hardness: Single-component polyurethane coatings have low hardness, while two-component coatings have higher hardness but are more complex to apply.

2. Environmental Adaptability

Water-based PVC coatings can still be applied in low-temperature environments (above 0℃), and have a fast drying speed (1.5-2 hours at 75℃ baking), while solvent-based coatings require high-temperature drying and are sensitive to humidity. 

Cost-Benefit Analysis

1. Raw Material Costs

Water-based PVC coating: The solid content of vinyl chloride copolymer emulsion (VAERS) is as high as 48%, requiring less coating per unit area, but the unit price of the resin is slightly higher than traditional solvent-based products. Traditional solvent-based coatings: Solvent costs account for a relatively high proportion (approximately 30%-50%), and flame retardants (such as bromine compounds) need to be added to meet fire safety requirements, resulting in higher overall costs.

2. Construction and Maintenance Costs

Water-based PVC coatings: Easy construction: No explosion-proof equipment is required, ventilation requirements are low, and labor costs are reduced by 20%-30%.

Low maintenance costs: The coating film has strong stain resistance, reducing cleaning frequency by more than 50%.

Traditional solvent-based coatings: VOC treatment costs: Waste gas purification equipment is required, increasing annual operating costs by 15%-20%.

Fire risk: Solvents are flammable, resulting in high insurance costs and safety protection investments.

In the textile field, water-based PVC coatings provide fabrics with multiple functions through back coating: Waterproof and anti-static: Surface resistance is stable at 10⁶-10⁸Ω/sq, suitable for electronic workshops and clean rooms.

Flame retardant and environmentally friendly: Replaces bromine-containing flame retardants, the carbon layer remains intact after combustion, meeting textile ecological certification standards.

Improved durability: When the coating film thickness is 80-90μm, the abrasion resistance (Taber test > 5000 revolutions) meets the needs of long-term use.

Conclusion

Environmentally friendly water-based PVC coatings are gradually replacing traditional solvent-based coatings due to their advantages such as high strength, low VOC, and long lifespan, especially in the fields of PVC-coated fabrics, industrial anticorrosion, and architectural decoration.