American Traffic Safety Services Association 41st Annual Convention & Traffic Expo

New binder permits less TiO2 and higher pigment loading

by Tina Grady Barbaccia and Better Roads staff

An old idiom asserts that “necessity is the mother of invention.” Dow Coating Material’s new FASTRACK HE-2706 Binder is a product born from such necessity.

“As we learned again last year, shortages of traffic paint can have a direct effect on public safety, and that’s not acceptable,” Stan Cook, Dow traffic paint marker manager, told Better Roads at the ATSSA 41st Annual Convention & Traffic Expo, held February in Phoenix.

Supply shortages provided much of the impetus for Cook and his R&D team to spring into action. “When the supply crisis struck last year,” he says, “we simply accelerated our HE (high-efficiency) development schedule in order to help customers and DOTs meet a challenge that had become a crisis in the middle part of last year.”

The result of the work by the Dow R&D team, FASTRACK HE-2706, is a new resin that offers higher pigment binding efficiency, higher pigment loadings and a reduction of TiO2 pigments, according to the company. Titanium dioxide, also known as titanium (IV) oxide or titania, is the naturally occurring oxide of titanium, chemical formula TiO2. In addition, the product does not sacrifice dry time or properties such as hiding, visibility, durability, sprayability or stability, according to Dow.

Cook, a chemical engineer, formerly worked as an applications and development leader. “When TiO2 supply and prices fluctuate, which we are currently experiencing and expect to see for some time, formulators, DOTs, applicators and the driving public all feel the effects.” Supply pressures can be relieved, he says, with “the potential to improve price stability for maintenance traffic paint.”

With this new binder technology also offering significant sustainability advantages, DOTs and traffic paint formulators – the primary users of the product – will look at the binders for their waterborne traffic paints, which can now get the same results with up to 50-percent lower TiO2 levels, Cook says.

Cindy Randazzo, who leads Dow’s traffic markings and sales service group, coordinates and designs Dow’s roadway test deck applications program, and was a leader in over-seeing the extensive testing of the product. She told Better Roads that the chemistry FASTRACK HE-2706 offers also provides up to a 30-percent reduction of the amount of latex necessary in the paint. These ingredients can be replaced with CaCO3 and water in traffic paints without loss of roadway performance, including both initial retro-reflectivity and retro-reflectivity retention throughout time.

Dow conducted a life-cycle analysis, which indicated a more sustainable product when compared to other traffic paints currently on the market. “Dow conducted an ISO-14040 life-cycle analysis that focused on five broad areas: energy usage, ecosystem quality, carbon footprint and the impact on natural resources and human health,” Cook says. In all cases, the study found that the new formulations based on FASTRACK HE-2706 Binder were significantly better than the paints currently used with traditional binder technologies, says Cook. “In every instance, we were at levels between 60-percent and 70-percent of today’s paints for these different categories.”

By lowering the supply dependence on key raw materials, Cook says, Dow hopes to be able to stabilize supply, stabilize pricing and offer a more sustainable solution to the states

Solar-powered dynamic signage

SwiftSign dynamic signage is solar-powered, remotely-controlled and, according to the manufacturer Versilis, easily installed and relocated. The system is comprised of a pivoting sign, solar panel and control box. Flashing lights can be added to the traffic sign to increase nighttime visibility and to catch drivers’ attention under specific circumstances such as emergency procedures. The dynamic signage is completely independent of any wiring for ease of installation or relocation, and can be easily activated with an RF unit, cellular phone or Web-based application.