Fast and effective analytical services (using high throughput analysis method) accelerating product development

• An Analysis Method

With more than 100 years of experience in imaging, SpecialChem client is offering analytical services accelerating product development: High Throughput Analysis method experimentally determines the Hansen Solubility Parameters of any polymers, solvents, pigments and dispersant.
This procedure is highly cost-effective as it shortens the way to the market considerably. Using our client analysis method, you will:

• Improve chemical resistance of your products (click on "Download further information" to learn more about this benefit)
• Select appropriate dispersant for your formulation
• Predict compatibility issues of components

The solubility of a polymer in a liquid is often an issue, whether you want to dissolve the polymer or you want to avoid it (e.g. to precipitate it or to improve chemical resistance). Likewise, for making a stable dispersion, you may have to select the right set of pigment/dispersant/solvent. Selecting a dispersant or a surfactant in such a way that it adsorbs to the pigment (with its pigmentophylic part) and that it is compatible with the solvent (through its matrixophylic part) to render optimal steric stabilization. While the typical experimental determination of these HSP’s is difficult, time-consuming and only qualitative, we can do it easier, faster and highly quantitative, using high throughput analytics.

Traditionally the Hildebrand Solubility Parameter is being used to look for compatibilities. The Hansen Solubility Parameters (HSP) allow one to predict these compatibility issues in a much more precise way. According to the Hansen theory any polymer, solvent, dispersant or pigment can be characterized in terms of polar, apolar and H-bonding characteristics. Components (or mixtures) that have similar HSP’s (d_p, d_d, d_H) are likely to dissolve or to disperse each other (based on the “Similia Similibus Solvuntur” principle). Any component can thus be displayed in a 3D Hansen Space using these coordinates, and around each point a sphere of solubility can be defined. Components inside this sphere will be compatible. Components outside won’t. It is interesting to note that by combining two “non-solvents” that are lying outside the solubility sphere, in the right proportions can lead to a “solvent” mixture that is positioned inside the solubility sphere.

According to the Hansen theory, the component of interest is brought into different reference liquids. It is evident that this can only be done in a decent way by using high throughput formulation methodologies. Determination of the HSP’s can range from low to high complexity. The easiest situation is the visual determination of a polymer’s solubility or a pigment’s dispersability, rendering binary data (“yes/no”). In a few cases visual inspection will be sufficient, e.g. in case of pigments and polymers with high Mw. In other cases (low Mw-organics, multi-component mixtures or amphiphilic molecules) visual interpretation might be highly misleading, eventually resulting in corrupt HSP data. In those cases, analytical determination of solubility (rendering a continuous scale) in combination with an application specific translation into solubility improves HSP data confidence tremendously. The extra effort for the analytical approach is a good investment for robust application of HSP approach.

We therefore propose to always start with an explorative pre-study, making mixtures of material under test (powder, fluid) in the 58 test solvents using high throughput methods. If visual inspection allows differentiation of solubility we directly can take these as input for HSP parameters.

In case visual inspection is not conclusive, a proposal will be made for an additional analytical technique to collect solubility data as input for a quantitative HSP analysis. From the range of HSP parameters determined in the explorative study we furthermore deduce, whether the number of test solvents may be reduced (from 58 to 42 or 30) for HSP determination of same kind of materials - in view of budget optimization.

The SpecialChem client does not sell his methodology, but wants to sell his analytical services and provide his customers with Hansen Solubility Parameters that are determined in a fast and effective way.

SpecialChem client researchers have experienced that the fastest way to product development is via high throughput analytics. Right from the start, the track forward can be marked. Needless to say that this procedure is highly cost-effective as it shortens the way to the market considerably. It is by using this High Throughput Hansen approach that we were able to develop our UV-curable ink jet inks in the fastest way possible to bring them to the market.

• Industry our client is in: Printing & Imaging
• Annual Revenue: ~ 3 billion Euro
• Years in Business: more than hundred years
• Headquarters Area: Europe.