Recent Advancements in Vinyl Acetate Ethylene Copolymers (VAE) for Use in Paperboard and Paper Coating, 2012 PaperCon Conference

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One of the most common uses of all types of coated paperboard is for folding cartons. Although excellent printability is important for this application, even more critical is glueability. The board must be able to be glued to maintain its structure and, in many cases, give evidence of tampering. The industry defines good glueability as achieving fiber tear. In mill situations, seconds to fiber tear is what is measured and a faster set time is more desirable. Vinyl acetate homopolymers are known to have better glueability than styrene polymers. Glueability is different than the coating strength measured by an IGT pick test. In an IGT test, styrene polymers will give higher IGT pick strength values than vinyl acetates. VAE (Vinyl acetate ethylene copolymers) emulsions were developed to improve IGT pick strength over conventional vinyl homopolymers, yet maintain the excellent glueability needed for folding cartons. In this presentation, we will describe recent developments in VAE technology for paper coating applications having comparable performance properties to styrenic binders. Pilot coater trials were run comparing these binders and their performance in glueability of the coated board.