Stratification of individual components in thermosetting coatings plays an
important role during film formation and affects a number of macroscopic pr
operties. This behavior is particularly pronounced for water-borne coatings
, and therefore molecular level understanding of interactions in latexes an
d responsiveness of individual components during coalescence of water-borne
polyurethanes are of particular interest. The presence of macromolecular a
rrangements and interactions among various components near the film-air Oi-
A) and the film-substrate (F-S) interfaces can be effectively monitored usi
ng attenuated total reflectance (ATR) and step-scan photoacoustic (SSPA) Fo
urier transform infrared (FT-IR) spectroscopy. Both approaches are capable
of obtaining information from various surface depths and complement each ot
her if one seeks molecular level information from 0 to 150 mum into the fil
m. In this presentation combined ATR and PA information along with IR and/o
r Raman surface imaging will be presented to establish three-dimensional re
presentation of polyurethane film formation and the effect of copolymer/pol
ymer blend latexes on coalescence processes in Sty/n-BA. (C) 2000 Published
by Elsevier Science S.A.