As a researcher, to have an overview of the alternatives available in your area of profession is of importance. In the landscape of rheology, new alternatives are emerging. In my short review today, I will grasp on the subject of similarities and potential synergies between two of the candidates you should note down: nanocellulose and hydrophobically modified ethoxylated polyurethanes (HEUR). Here are my hints and tips  on how to understand these two technologies better.

A fast viscosity recovery is good, and some times crucial, but that would also affect the leveling, right? In this weeks Topic Tuesday, we discuss how you can cope with the issue of getting fast recovery - and avoid sag - while getting your coating layer in level. We may also have some exciting ideas for you if you have problems with cracking. 

Suddenly, the new tax on pollutants in China, their ban on solvent based coatings for containers, and the city of Shanghais ban on solvent based coatings for exterior walls and wood ware has changed things. Do you want to know more on how to adapt in rapid market changes like these? In this topic Tuesday we are discussing this and showing you a couple of concrete examples to get your ideas start running. Don´t miss out on this weeks interesting discussion on saving business with the necessary level of innovation.

There are several solutions to improve strength performance, and there are new materials available on the market. But how do you find the reinforcement additives and agents that provides the benefits you are looking for? And can this be done inline with the increased demand for sustainability at the same time? Spend a couple of minutes on this weeks blog post, and get some inputs and ideas on what to expect from one of these new materials.

Mixing two liquids like oil and water is hard enough. At the same time keeping it stable, adds an additional level of difficulty in this challenge. And how can you reach the best performance on rheology and stability in the making of these emulsions? In this episode of Topic Tuesday, we are discussing the subject of emulsions; what are they, how do they work and how do we make them stable? Grab a coffee and joins us for a video session.

This month’s research review has some interesting news from the world of nanocellulose. We have referred to a lot of interesting functionalities from this exciting material before, ranging from 3D printing to super reinforcer and rheology additives. Today, we are giving you the news of an interesting, and, I must admit, slightly unforeseen idea. It was uncovered in Asia. Dig in to this week’s blog post from the Exilva blog to read more.

One of the benefits of highly fibrillated cellulose fibrils is its very high surface area. When the fibers are torn down to smaller and smaller fibrils, the surface area consequently increases, which leads to new properties and applications. Learn how its extreme water binding capacity, among other properties, may take your product to a new efficiency level. 

A familiar problem for producers of coatings and polyolefins is what literature calls blocking. When blocking occurs, it is the coatings ability to create adhesion to itself that causes the problems. There are many available technologies for avoiding this, in which some are synthetically derived, and others are derived directly from nature. Could a bio-based alternative give you the effect you are looking for? If you are looking for some ideas, this is the blog post to read.

Cellulose fibrils have been written and talked about for years. A substantial amount of reports have been written prospecting all sorts of application areas. Based on its functionalities, it seems to be a good rheology modifier, a good stabilizer and it is showing substantial strength enhancement. But is there any proof to the pudding and where do we find the latest developments? I have tried to gather a couple of relevant examples for you, which to me are fairly new developments. Dig into this week’s blog post to find out what they are!

Bio-based is on everyone's lips these days, and there are a high number of initiatives going on in innovating new product systems with a bio-based background. In this post I will give you a sneak peak into the improvement of an organic solvent system, using a biobased addtive as an example. Cellulose fibrils is a green and environmentally friendly material that consists of a complex three dimensional network of cellulose microfibrils.

It is well known that cellulose fibrils , because of its high surface area and many available hydroxyl (OH) groups, has a high affinity for water. This result in a material with very high water holding capacity that forms strong gels in water at low concentrations. Since cellulose fibrils is so fond of water, it might be easy to think that the material would not perform well if it was dispersed in other solvent systems. However, this is far from the truth!