1. Introduction
One-dimensional (1D) NMR profiling studies on drying solutions
or dispersions of polymers and associated effects such as film
formation have been studied by 1D NMR imaging methods for
quite some time [1–3]. While these first studies involved rather
bulky and heavy magnet systems, the introduction of the NMR
profiling, MOUSE [4] has brought a much smaller and more
accessible version of a 1D NMR imaging setup. This experimental
system (or setup or device) has become available and has been in
the meantime applied to profiling studies of several drying polymer
systems [5,6]. One has to be aware that the NMR signal is
influenced by several parameters, which are often hard to disentangle
given the rather low signal/noise ratio typical for such
experiments.
Considering this challenge, combining data from NMR and other
techniques seems to be a reasonable way to extract further information
from the profiling data. In order to obtain such data under
comparable conditions, a sample cell system was developed that
can be used on the measuring table of the profile MOUSE as well
as on other experimental setups such as a balance or an inverse
microscope [7]. For the present study, profiling NMR and gravimetric
experiments were run in parallel using two drying cells situated
right next to each other. Film-formation of two dispersions for
wall-paint applications was studied with and without addition of
a film-forming or coalescing agent [8]. Such co-solvents are added
to many water-based coating formulations to promote better filmformation
in the drying process.