Trinseo |Trinseo’s Dustin Burton, Don Ventresca, and Greg Welsch Research on a Novel Test Method for Barrier Coating Featured in “TAPPI Journal”

Trinseo’s Dustin Burton, Don Ventresca, and Greg Welsch Research on a Novel Test Method for Barrier Coating Featured in “TAPPI Journal”

Trinseo’s Dustin Burton, Senior Research Technologist, Don Ventresca, Senior Technical Service and Development Specialist, and Gregory Welsch, Global Innovation Leader, recently had research papers published in the November edition of the TAPPI Journal. These papers focus on challenging issues facing our customers as they look to implement water based barrier coating formulations to meet the increasing demand for sustainable packaging.

magazine cover
An image from the Defect Test Method Paper submitted by Trinseo was chosen as the cover for the Magazine

The first paper, titled “Novel test method for measuring defects in barrier coatings,” was co-authored by Burton, Ventresca and Welsch. The paper also focused on barrier coatings and how to detect and measure the size and quantity of defects in the barrier coating layer that affect performance.

This new test method developed by Trinseo is more accurate and easily administered, providing the user with better data. Utilizing an image analysis technique, the test time is reduced and assists in determining the root cause of the imperfection, such as base sheet defects, coating dispersion issues, or micro-blisters in the coating. With some refinement, it is believed that this new test method can be utilized in development work and as a quality control technique for manufacturing coated paper and paperboard products.

The second paper, titled “ Modeling the influence of rheology on smooth rod coating systems,” was co-authored by Welsch, John A. Roper III, fellow consultant at PaperCote LLC, and Douglas W. Bousfield, Calder professor in the Paper Surface Science program, Department of Chemical and Biomedical Engineering, at the University of Maine. The paper fills a gap in the limited amount of literature available about smooth rod coating, an effective coating application method used for barrier coatings, and establishes a framework to better understand the fundamentals of the rod loading of smooth coating rods to obtain various coat weights. This is particularly important in the application of water based barrier coatings which typically do not contain inorganic pigmetns and fillers and asa result the coating behave very differently when metered on paper based substrates.

Both of these papers were presented at TAPPICon 2022 last April and received the additional honor of Best Presentation Award.

“We’re very proud of our continuing contributions to the Paper & Board industry. And we expect that our ongoing commitment to innovation and delivering forward -thinking solutions will continue to move the industry forward," said James Ni, Senior Vice President, Latex Binders. “These published articles are a testament to our deep industry expertise and continued Technology leadership.”

To read “Novel test method for measuring defects in barrier coatings,” click here.
To read “Modeling the influence of rheology on smooth rod coating systems,” click here.