I N D U S T R Y & B U S I N E S S

Water-Based Exterior Paints Set a Fast Pace Sales of latex and linseed oil-emulsion paints for exterior use are growing faster than paint sales as a whole

Water-based exterior paints will be in the spotlight this week at the 75th meeting of the National Paint, Var­nish and Lacquer Association in Los Angeles. Reason: They are one of the fastest growing segments of the paint industry. They're showing a growth rate of about 6 to 7% per year, compared with less than 2.5% for the industry as a whole.

Exact figures on paint output and consumption are nearly impossible to come by, say market observers. But they estimate that 6 to 8 million gallons of water-based paint will be used on exteriors in 1962. Total ex­terior paint consumption this year will be about 70 to 75 million gallons.

Most of the water-based exterior paints are used on masonry. In 1961, latex paints applied to masonry totaled 5.5 million gallons, compared to a little over 2 million gallons on ex­terior wood surfaces. However, use on wood exteriors is expected to surpass use on masonry in about two years.

Continued Growth. Pushed by their special advantages over oil-based paints—easier application and ability to be thinned or cleaned up with water—water-based paints are ex­pected to continue to boom. By 1965, between 25 and 32 million gal­lons of water-based exterior paint will be used, according to market ob­servers. Total sales of exterior paint in 1965 is expected to be about 90 million gallons. Conventional oil-based exterior paints, therefore, will be doing well if they hold their own.

Behind these glowing figures of ex­panded volume are the greater dur­ability of the latex exterior paints, now generally conceded, plus their handling advantages. Linseed oil-emulsion exterior paints are much newer than the latex paints and ex­posure tests for them have been shorter than those for latex paints. But most tests so far show that the durability of these paints will be as good as, if not better than, that of oil-based exterior paints.

Acrylic latex paints seem firmly en­trenched in the exterior wood field, although polyvinyl acetate (both the homopolymer and copolymer types) has a large part of the market. Rohm & Haas' Rhoplex AC-34 and Reich-hold's 40-120 Wallpol are examples of acrylic and polyvinyl acetate emul­sions supplied to paint makers. Vinyl acetate-acrylics also are used in latex paints in significant quantities. Some industry observers think that the lat­ter combination may eventually be­come the most widely used one for ex­terior latex paints because it gives a good balance of paint properties at lowest cost. At present, polyvinyl acetate-based latex paints have half of the market for latex masonry paints and a smaller amount of the market for wood coatings. Acrylics have about a third of the market for latex coatings for masonry and probably two thirds of the market for latex paints for wood.

Well Established. Consumers, espe­cially the do-it-yourselfers, have ac­

cepted latex exterior paints—although slowly—since 1949 when Dow intro­duced styrene-butadiene latex for ma­sonry paints. When successful for­mulations for many latex paints for ex­terior wood surfaces were developed in 1958 and 1959, many large paint makers jumped into this market. Their promotions of these paints caught consumer attention quickly.

But one drawback that partly dis­illusions consumers is the need of us­ing a three-coat system. An oil primer and two coats of latex are needed to do the equivalent of a two-coat system of conventional oil-based paints. Durability, antiblistering qualities, and fast drying, however, partially compensate. But the growth rate of latex exterior paints has slowed.

A side effect has been that manu­facturers of materials for latex paints have channeled more effort into de­velopment. Out of this effort have come new types of latices, such as Dow's Latex 358. Latex 358, for main­tenance paints, was heavily promoted

QUICK DRY. With quick-drying maintenance paints based on Dow Latex 358, painters can apply the number of coats needed without having to move slings

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for the first time last month, at the 27th Paint Industries Show in St. Louis. Dow claims the acrylic latex makes possible industrial maintenance paints with corrosion resistance, dur­ability, and tint and gloss retention equal to or better than that of conven­tional resin paints. Dow is offering the latex at 45 cents per pound, solids. The company says that formulated paints based on the latex are offered at prices comparable to or less than prices of many quality paints contain­ing solution vinyls, phenolics, alkyds, or chlorinated rubbers.

Linseed Oil Emulsions. Of 70 mil­lion gallons of exterior paints used last year, 60 million gallons were used on wood surfaces. Thus wood surfaces offer the outlet in which latex exterior paints could grow fastest, and at the expense of oil paints. Knowing this, paint scientists developed linseed oil emulsions with the object of providing the advantages of latices without the disadvantage of requiring a three-coat system. Much early work on linseed oil emulsions was done at the Depart­ment of Agriculture's lab in Peoria, 111.

Four major companies have linseed oil-emulsion products on the market. Each product differs in its properties, and so do the paints made from them. For example, Cargill's formula 1308, now on the market for two years, has about 60% solids. Archer Daniels Midland's new material, X-1652, has 100% solids, which prevents freeze-thaw and some corrosion problems. Products of other manufacturers are Pacific Vegetable Oil's PVO-44-0, which contains 65% solids, and Spen­cer Kellogg's Linaqua with 85% solids. Technically, Linaqua is some­thing apart from a linseed oil emulsion; it is a polyether-modified oil and con­tains a coupling agent and solvent.

For use on new wood, most of the linseed oil-emulsion paints require a conventional oil-based primer. If an old oil-based paint film is free from blisters and peeling, no primer is needed. Linseed oil-emulsion paints bond well to chalky surfaces of old oil paint films while latex paints do not.

The boom in water-based exterior paints is causing, in turn, a boom in such materials as emulsifying agents, driers (for linseed oil-emulsion paints) and many other additives. If demand for these paints increases as predicted, additive makers also can look forward to expanding demand for their prod­ucts.

Immigration of Scientists Declining U.S. gained 6300 chemists, chemical engineers in 1952-61 period

Nearly 4900 chemists and 1400 chemi­cal engineers immigrated to the U.S. between July 1, 1951, and June 30, 1961. The chemists and chemical en­gineers were part of a total immigra­tion to the U.S. of 39,209 scientists and engineers during the period, ac­cording to a National Science Founda­tion report.

In fiscal 1957, the year of the big­gest inflow of scientists and engi­neers (5823 came to the U.S. that year), nearly 900 chemists and chemi­cal engineers arrived and became permanent residents. That year and the following one were the years when large numbers of Hungarians managed to escape from behind the Iron Cur­tain after their revolution was sup­pressed. About 2000 Hungarian sci­entists and engineers were among the 38,045 Hungarian refugees admitted to the U.S. in fiscal 1957 and 1958, it is estimated. Since then, each year has seen a steady decrease in the number of scientists and engineers arriving in the U.S.

Political upheavals in other countries also can be seen in the immigration statistics. In fiscal 1961, for instance, 171 Cuban scientists and engineers sought haven in the U.S. That was twice the figure for the previous year

Immigration of Scientists, Engineers Hit Peak in '57

Total Immigrant Immigrant

Fiscal Immigrant Chemical Scientists and Year Chemists Engineers Engineers

1952 276 87 2297

1953 279 81 2718

1954 387 125 3200

1955 352 98 2862

1956 502 142 3790

1957 686 192 5823

1958 636 163 5190

1959 660 176 5081

1960 518 160 4326

1961 568 150 3922 Source: National Science Foundation

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