CHINACOAT 2026 Comes to a Brilliant Close: Technical Control Looks Ahead to a Waterborne Future in the Greater Bay Area

CHINACOAT 2026 returned to the China Import and Export Fair Complex in Guangzhou from November 11 to 13, marking the exhibition’s 30th anniversary.

With waterborne polyurethane technology at its core, Technical Control presented its technological capabilities across a broad range of applications, from industrial coatings to flexible-substrate surface finishing.

Throughout the three-day exhibition, Technical Control’s booth remained a hub of intensive technical discussions with industry professionals. Visitors represented a wide range of sectors, including industrial coatings, film and paper printing inks, digital inkjet printing, textile printings and leather finishing.

Highlights

Waterborne Wood Coatings | Bringing Durability and Aesthetic Appeal Together

For wood and flooring applications, a successful waterborne coating must deliver more than just low odour. Technical Control’s waterborne polyurethane resins are designed to provide a balanced combination of adhesion, chemical resistance and scratch resistance, forming a dense yet transparent film. They help achieve an optimal balance of abrasion resistance, stain resistance and low VOC emissions while maintaining the desired appearance and feel of the finish.

Waterborne Plastic Coatings | Reliable Adhesion on Challenging Substrates

Plastic coatings and soft-touch finishes for applications in consumer electronics (3C) and automotive coatings often involve substrates with low surface energy and narrow processing windows. This makes adhesion and long-term durability key challenges in the transition to waterborne systems.

Technical Control’s waterborne polyurethane resin systems are designed to meet these demands, delivering a combination of adhesion, alcohol resistance, abrasion resistance and scratch resistance, while maintaining an environmentally friendly profile with no volatile organic compounds (VOCs).

Film and Paper Inks | Optimizing Film Formation at the Substrate Interface

For film applications, performance begins at the interface between ink and substrate. Technical Control’s waterborne polyurethane resins promote reliable adhesion in both surface and reverse printing on low-surface-energy substrates such as PET and BOPP. Formulations are also designed to provide scratch resistance, flex resistance, water resistance and the lamination strength required for converting processes. For reverse printing applications, resistance to package contents and low migration are additional key considerations.

For paper applications, the product range extends to overprint varnish and soft-touch coatings. Overprint varnish offers a waterborne alternative to plastic-film lamination, helping preserve paper recyclability while maintaining abrasion and water resistance. Soft-touch coatings, meanwhile, balance a soft matte feel with scratch resistance.

Digital Inkjet Printing | Particle Size and Film Formation Define Application Potential

Digital inkjet printing places stringent demands on particle size, printhead compatibility, ink droplet fixation and dense film formation, all of which must work together to ensure reliable performance. Technical Control’s fine-particle waterborne polyurethane dispersions help minimize the risk of printhead blockage while supporting colour performance, wash resistance and rub resistance.

This enables waterborne inkjet solutions to achieve practical processing windows across applications such as packaging labels, films and paper.

Diverse Applications | The Synergy of Resins and Additives

Technical Control’s leather-finishing solutions cover the entire process, from base coats and intermediate coats to topcoats. For difficult-to-coat leather substrates, cationic and non-ionic systems offer differentiated solutions to meet varying adhesion requirements.

For textile printings, the product range covers base coats, topcoats and ink formulations. Base coats provide coverage and help prevent strike-through, while topcoats balance softness and high elasticity with wash and abrasion resistance.

A complementary range of waterborne additives—including wetting, levelling, defoaming and thickening agents—helps formulators achieve the right processing conditions and ensures consistent resin performance on the production line.

The breadth of these applications reflects more than a diverse product portfolio. It shows how a shared waterborne technology platform can be tailored to the distinct demands of different substrates.

Intensive Technical Engagement

The most intensive discussions at Technical Control’s booth over the three days took place between the technical team and visiting engineers, focusing on in-depth evaluations of substrate types, processing windows and regulatory requirements, rather than merely examining the appearance of product samples.

Bringing the Greater Bay Area Together for the Future

Over the three days, Technical Control brought together applications in wood coatings, plastic coatings, film and paper inks, digital inkjet printing and flexible-substrate finishing through its waterborne polyurethane technology, forming an integrated and practically validated technology chain, linking one technology platform to a wide variety of applications.

CHINACOAT 2026 has come to a close, but the next chapter for waterborne technology is just beginning. From the exhibition floor to the production line, and from individual product substitution to comprehensive system transformation, Technical Control will continue to build on compliance as its foundation and substrate compatibility as a guiding principle, working alongside the industry to advance the next generation of waterborne coatings and finishes.