Published online by Cambridge University Press: 31 January 2011
Since 1998, Dow has been actively developing and applying high throughput research (HTR) methodologies to increase the speed to market and the probability of successful product introductions. Initially Dow implemented this approach in the area of homogeneous catalysis. Based upon the success in this area, high throughput methods have been expanded into other research areas such as waterborne coatings. Paint formulations offer an excellent opportunity to use the strengths of high throughput research to understand how complex interactions between many components affect final properties. High throughput tools enable the rapid and reproducible development of paints, preparation of coating on substrates, and evaluation of performance. Rapid formulation and testing allows the interactions between formulation variables to be investigated in much more depth and breadth than has been possible in the past. Finally, statistical anaylsis and data mining tools can be used to optimize a desired balance of properties within customer defined constraints. This paper presents an example of using Dow's HTR coatings workflow to improve properties for low VOC / low odor architectural coatings.