European Coatings Show

The gathering of the coatings and paint industry

Aesthetic, sustainable, functional, process-proof. The demands placed on paint and coatings are growing all the time. Decision-makers and thought leaders in the coatings industry face great challenges. The European Coatings Show – abbreviated to ECS 2025 – gives them the opportunity to meet the innovation leaders and discuss the latest developments in pigments, additives, adhesive and raw materials, intermediates for construction chemicals as well as laboratory and production equipment, testing and measuring equipment, application and environmental protection and safety work.

Abstract of talk at conference on March 24, 2025:

The humble contact angle measurement has long been an essential tool in the coatings specialist’s toolbox, used to guide formulation and assess coating performance in terms of wettability, (re)coatability, defect control, adhesion, and more. While static contact angles are well-known, dynamic contact angle measurements are often overlooked—likely because they can be much more difficult and time-consuming, with a typical set of measurements (including repeats) taking two hours or more to complete. In this project, we present a series of studies establishing a strong correlation between dynamic contact angle measurements, specifically recently receded contact angle data, and substrate-coating adhesion performance, as determined per ISO 2409 (cross-cut adhesion/tape test). This correlation was tested on a wide range of substrate types, including metals, polymers, plasma-activated polymers, and base-coated substrates, with different coatings. A key aspect of this work is the use of a novel measurement technique, the so-called stood-up-drop method, which quickly and reliably measures recently receded contact angles, reducing the typical measurement time to mere seconds per sample (including repeats). By minimizing reliance on subjective, qualitative, and time-consuming cross-cut adhesion tests, the applied stood-up-drop method has the potential to greatly optimize the workflow of performance testing in the coatings industry, without the need to introduce new techniques or significantly alter existing equipment and test procedures.