Revista Paint & Pintura - Edição 230

CLIPPING 6 | PAINT&PINTURA | Março 2018 categories, 16 of which for suppliers to the paint and coatings industry, one for best paint company, and four for personalities, bringingtogetherrepresentativesofkeycompaniesintheregion’s coatings supply chain. To determine who the winners were, Agnelo Editora posted a poll on our PaintShowweb portal, so stakeholders could vote for the companies and personalities of their choice in the industry. The poll started on November 6, 2017 and ended on January 23, 2018, except for the personality categories, which extended until February 20, 2018, Special Award – Contribution to the Industry Agnelo Editora is paying a special tribute to two individuals who haveprovided immeasurable support for growthandevolution in thepaintandcoatingsindustryintheNorthandNortheastregions ofBrazil.Themenbeinghonoredbythe1stPaint&PinturaRegional awards are Marcos Soares, president of Sindiquímica, and Ailton Rino Grando, director at Fortcolor. Learn about thewinners of the North and Northeast’s 1st Paint & Pintura Regional Awards in this issue. TITANIUM DIOXIDE - AN INDISPENSABLE PIGMENT Among itsuniqueproperties, titaniumdioxide is irreplaceable for its tinting strength, hidingpower andbrightness, combinedwith performance enhancement. Oneof the rawmaterials that thepaint andcoatings industryuses the most is titanium dioxide (TiO2), an inorganic pigment that has longbeena referencepoint for their formulations. “Through its various production processes, it achieves such properties as tintingstrength, easydispersion, andother chemical andresistan- ce features. Accordingly, we provide different titanium dioxide grades featuring varying undertones, great dispersibility, and weathering resistance. Chief among the properties they impart topaintsarebrightness, tintingpower, andopacity,”saysAromat technical manager Fernando Rosa. Given the importance of this material, the market in titanium dioxide has been displaying improvements since last year. “Af- ter two consecutive years of contraction, the titanium dioxide market grew over the course of 2017 in Brazil, and will continue performing well this year if the GDP growth projections we are lookingatdomaterialize.Thedemandfortitaniumdioxideusually follows thesamegrowth trends asdoes theeconomyas awhole, in that it has been keeping pace with the world GDP and should continue to do so,” says Claudia de Almeida Antunes, Titanium Technologies business manager at Chemours Brazil. To sustain that growth, TiO2 suppliers also invest in advanced technology. “Like paint and coatings companies, each titanium dioxide manufacturer has its specific product formulation. Our partnersareconstantlyworkingon thedevelopmentof products featuring finer particle sizes for easier dispersion and improved hiding power. In addition, the focus has been on looking for better alternatives on the surface treatment front,” says Interbrazil’s marketing manager Fernando Andrukiu. Over the past few years, Interbrasil has been hard at work to diversify their portfolio towards creating value for cus- tomers in the various markets it serves, according to sales manager JoséMárioGugisch. “Nevertheless, ourdiversifica- tionstrategyalways includes simplification, aswearedoing business inan industry that requiresgreat technical experti- se indevelopmentowing tothedifferent propertiesof each titaniumdioxidegrade,which is especially toughon smaller producers. Soour business style is about offeringa titanium dioxide grade for each application type, such as premium paints, economy paints, paper products, plastics, ceramics, cosmetics, foods, etc., widening our scope without losing our focus, all to make our customers’ lives easier.” According to Victor Luis Maluf Amarilla, technical support and marketing director at Kalium, as irreplaceable as tita- nium dioxide is in the formulation of paints and coatings, there are always attempts to replace the material either in full or inpart, but thepriceandefficiencyof titaniumdioxide alwaysenduphinderingsuchattempts. “Thedifferences lie in the production process that makes particles regular and ideally sized for theproduct toachievemaximumreflectan- ce. Using the surface treatment that best fits each applica- tion also makes a major difference. For example, there are surface treatments for maintenance coatings, which are stronger, but harder as well, and others for printing inks, where both pigments and treatments are smoother, and there are also additives to improve pigment dispersion up to the primary particle.” PRODUCTION EQUIPMENT: MILLS, DISPENSERS & MIXERS - WELL-EQUIPPED AND AUTOMATED PRODUCTION PLANTS Suppliers of productionequipment arehardatwork topro- videtheircustomerswithcutting-edgetechnologymachines that deliver major savings in their processes. Productionequipmenthavebecomeexcellent toolsatpaint factories because go beyond just processing materials to providingaseriesof addedbenefits. According toFernando Sano Itaziki, Inkmaker director for Central andSouthAmeri- cas,inadditiontooptimizingprocesses,otherfactorsdriving manufacturers to have automatic dispensing equipment installed in their plants include the environmental benefit it provides inthat thevery installationof automaticmachinery alone reduceswaste through just-in-timeproductionof the exact quantity needed, while avoidingproductionandope- rationerrors,whichcouldotherwisegeneratewasteaswell. Inkmaker’s Itaziki further tells us there are a variety of com- panieswhich, for several different reasons, still havenopro-