Recent Progress in Organically Modified Silica and Self-Matting Polymers for Coating Applications

Abstract

The conventional way of reducing the gloss of coating is to use matting agents such as silica, wax, and fillers. The demerits of these matting agents are sedimentation, poor compatibility, and deterioration of mechanical properties over time. Recent advances in organically modified matting agents and self-matting polymers have addressed these limitations by enabling uniform matte finishes without compromising film integrity. Organically modified silica, functionalized with silane or acrylate moieties, has been shown to deliver lower gloss values in the range of 5-14 gloss units at 60°, in contrast to the typically observed >70 gloss units for conventional high-gloss coatings. Similarly, self-matting polymers, particularly waterborne polyurethane (WBPU) and acrylate dispersions, achieve matte effects through intrinsic micro-roughness during film formation. The gloss value achieved with self-matting acrylic resin synthesized using hydrolyzable silane functionality is 6.3 units at 60°. This review emphasizes distinct techniques for organic modifications of matting agents, synthetic approaches for self-matting polymeric architectures, and their applications in the fields of decorative coatings, industrial coatings, and wood coatings.

Keywords

Matting agents / Self-matting polymers / Organically modified / Surface roughness / Coatings

Acknowledgments

We extend our heartfelt thanks to the management of “Asian Paints Limited” for their support in completing the work. We are thankful to Rajeev Kumar Goel for his constant support in publishing this review article.

Author Contributions

Conceptualization, R.M.P.; Methodology, R.M.P.; Software, U.G.; Validation, R.M.P.; Formal Analysis, U.G.; Investigation, R.M.P.; Writing—Original Draft Preparation, (U.G.; Writing—Review & Editing, R.M.P.; Visualization, U.G.; Supervision, R.M.P.; Project Administration, R.M.P.

Ethics Statement

Not Applicable.

Informed Consent Statement

Not Applicable.

Data Availability Statement

Data sharing is not applicable to this article, as no new data were created in this study.

Funding

This research received no external funding.

Declaration of competing interest

The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper.

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