Choosing the right leveling agent for waterborne topcoats

Waterborne coatings fail at the surface more often than inside the film. Cratering, poor substrate wetting and telegraphing are usually additive problems, not resin problems.

Organo-modified polysiloxane additives such as AFCONA-3596 combine substrate wetting with anti-crater performance in one addition, which keeps the formulation simple for all-system waterborne topcoats.

When slip and surface smoothness are the priority, a pure silicone leveling agent is more efficient. Start at 0.2-0.5% on total formulation and check recoatability before increasing the dose. Overdosing silicone additives is the most common cause of intercoat adhesion failure.