RHEOLOGICAL STUDY OF THE ANATASE/LATEX POLYSTYRENE SYSTEM

The essential components of the plastic paint are latex, pigments and water. When it is transported or stored, in general, experience some destabilization, forming aggregates that can eventually sediment. Largely this unwanted behavior is due to changes in temperature experienced by the paint. Viscosity decreases with temperature and, consequently, drag forces also decrease; hence, aggregate formation increases due to the higher contact probability between disperse phase units. Whatever the case, a good mix design should avoid its destabilization. Plastic paint industry uses additives (glycols) that have as an object just to keep stable the paint against temperature changes. However, there are environmental, recently established, restrictions that are related to the use of glycols. As a step prior to the proposal of alternative solutions to glycols, a study of the temperature influence on the viscous and viscoelastic flows of a mixture, which consists of basic ingredients of a plastic paint, has been made. The viscoelastic response of the mixture allowed determining that the dominant component in the microstructure is polystyrene.