Abstract
In order to optimize the formulation of the acrylate methacrylate (AMA) coating systems, the partial solubility parameters of AMA and those of various coating solvents and plasticizers have been computed using the group contribution method of Van Krevelan and Hoftyzer. The data were analyzed in accordance with the three‐dimensional solubility parameters whereby δ~h~ (the hydrogen‐bonding component) was plotted against the sum of δ~d~ (the dipole–dipole component) and δ~p~ (the polar component). The data were also analyzed according to a two‐dimensional solubility parameters whereby δ~h~ was plotted vs δ~p~ to obtain the energy maps for the various compounds. With the three‐dimensional analysis, the position of the reference polymer in the energy map was centrally located and was flanked by plasticizers and solvents that were shown experimentally to be compatible with the polymer. On the other hand, the two‐dimensional analysis displaced the location of the reference polymer in the energy map leftward to the Y axis, and was not flanked by plasticizers and solvents that were compatible with it. The results show that the concept of the three‐dimensional solubility parameters was more applicable to the theoretical selection of plasticizers and solvents for the polymer studied. © 2002 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Appl Polym Sci 87: 1339–1344, 2003