A review of polymeric dispersant stabilisation of titania pigment

A review of past and present published works examining the interaction of polymeric dispersants with titania pigment particles is presented. Titania is the most important white pigments currently used in the world and its suspension properties are very important for consumer industries such as paints, papermaking and plastics; if aggregates are present, the end-use properties including gloss, opacity and storage stability will be highly affected. As polymeric dispersants are generally used to disperse titania pigment particles, it is very important to understand the interactions between the pigment particles and polymeric dispersants of varying functionality. Although, in principle, the adsorption of polymers onto titania pigment and influences on pigment dispersion and stabilisation are fairly known, it is nevertheless hardly possible to forecast the behaviour of a given polymeric dispersant in advance, unless to have a broad knowledge of the interaction occurring between pigment and dispersants and effect of dispersant structure upon adsorption. While only titania pigment is discussed, the issues raised may also apply to other mineral oxides such as alumina or zirconia.