DMSO-based formulations have been designed to substitute methylene-chloride based, classical strippers. Unexpected synergy effects have been obtained with ethers, giving efficiencies comparable to methylene chloride-methanol systems. An understanding of reaction mechanisms is proposed to try to explain the origin of these synergy effects.
As a rule, professional paint strippers want to separate the substrate paint, with the paint film breaking up into pieces or flakes.1 They do not want the paint to dissolve since this would lead to permanent contamination of porous substrates or of the immersion stripping baths. This is difficult to avoid in the case of lacquers and non-cross-linked paints. Most paints today are cross-linked at the moment of film formation or by aging (as with alkyds). In the presence of certain solvents they swell and the paint film comes unstuck. This freeing of the paint film is mostly obtained through the breaking of the adhesive bonds between the film and the substrate.