Abstract
Soluble polymer is frequently added to inorganic particle suspensions to provide mechanical strength and adhesiveness to particulate coatings. To engineer coating microstructure, it is essential to understand how drying conditions and dispersion composition influence particle and polymer distribution in a drying coating. Here, a 1D model revealing the transient concentration profiles of particles and soluble polymer in a drying suspension is proposed. Sedimentation, evaporation and diffusion govern particle movement with the presence of soluble polymer influencing the evaporation rate and solution viscosity. Results are summarized in drying regime maps that predict particle accumulation at the free surface or near the substrate as conditions vary. Calculations and experiments based on a model system of poly(vinyl alcohol) (PVA), silica particles and water reveal that the addition of PVA slows the sedimentation and diffusion of the particles during drying such that accumulation of particles at the free surface is more likely.
| Original language | English (US) |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 112-120 |
| Number of pages | 9 |
| Journal | Journal of Colloid And Interface Science |
| Volume | 359 |
| Issue number | 1 |
| DOIs | |
| State | Published - Jul 1 2011 |
Bibliographical note
Funding Information:The authors gratefully thank the Ernest-Solvay-Stiftung for supporting the diploma thesis stay of Felix Buss at the University of Minnesota. We would like to acknowledge support from the National Science Foundation under award no. CBET 0967348 and the industrial supporters of the Coating Process Fundamentals Program. We also thank Shawn Dodds for helpful discussions. Parts of this work were carried out in the Characterization Facility, University of Minnesota, which receives partial support from the National Science Foundation through the MRSEC program.
Keywords
- Coatings
- Diffusion
- Drying
- Particles
- Sedimentation