What is the difference between lacquer (solvent) based and aqueous (water) based coatings?
A. A simple way of visualizing the differences are the difference between oil based paint and latex based paint. Oil based paint needs paint thinner for cleanup, while latex based paint can be cleaned up with soapy water. A more comprehensive explanation is the base of a lacquer base coating is usually derived from petroleum or alcohol, while aqueous based solutions are made with water as the main ingredient. Any time you can use water as a base there are environmental advantages, as well as safety considerations.
