K‐White: Formulating for aqueous anticorrosive primers

An accelerating trend in the development of aqueous paint has been taking place recently so much so that it has been predicted that at the end of the present decade 80% of all motorcar finishes will be water‐based. Anticorrosion primers are included in these forecasts and there is now available a range of primers based on a new generation of polymers with improved mechanical properties, low moisture vapour permeability, good UV resistance, adhesion and solvent resistance. Using water to protect steel from corrosion would appear to fly in the face of logic, but an ever‐increasing number of paint manufacturers are doing just this. It has been claimed that properly formulated waterborne primers offer performance equal or superior to conventional solvent‐based systems.