Latex paint containing titanium dioxide pigment

1. A latex paint, comprising:

a) a multistage carboxylated polymer latex binder obtained by multistage aqueous emulsion polymerisation of a monomer composition M consisting of

at least one non-ionic monomer M1, which is selected from C 1 -C 20 -alkyl esters of acrylic acid, C 1 -C 20 -alkylesters of methacrylic acid, and vinyl aromatic monomers,

one or more monoethylenically unsaturated monomers M2, which are selected from monoethylenically unsaturated monocarboxylic acids having 3 to 6 carbon atoms and monoethylenically unsaturated dicarboxylic acids having 4 to 6 carbon atoms, and

optionally one or more non-ionic monomers M3, which are different from monomers M1,

where in at least one stage, the relative amount of monomers M2 added in said stage is at least 6% by weight, based on the total amount of monomers added in said stage, the total amount of monomers M2 being from 0.05 to 5% by weight, based on the total amount of the monomer composition M;

b) a titanium dioxide pigment;

c) a polymeric dispersant PD which is selected from homo and copolymers of monomers M4, which are selected from monoethylenically unsaturated monocarboxylic acids having 3 to 6 carbon atoms and monoethylenically unsaturated dicarboxylic acids having 4 to 6 carbon atoms,

wherein the monomers M4 make up at least 95 mol-% of the monomers forming the polymeric dispersant, and where the polymeric dispersant PD has a number average molecular weight, as determined by GPC, of at most 6000 Dalton; and

d) an associative thickener polymer and

where the monomer composition M is polymerized by a multistage emulsion polymerisation process, where at least 95% of the monomer composition M to be polymerised are metered during a period P to the polymerisation reaction under polymerisation conditions,

wherein during at least one period P(n) within said period P the relative amount of monomers M2, which are metered to the polymerisation reaction during the periods P(n), to the total amount of the monomers metered to the polymerisation reaction during said period P(n), is increased from less than 0.05:1 to at least 0.06:1 and decreased to less than 0.05:1 at the end of each of said period(s) P(n).

2. The latex paint of claim 1 , wherein the polymer particles of the multistage polymer latex binder at pH 12 and 22° C. have a Z average particle diameter of 1.1 to 1.8 times of the Z average diameter of the polymer latex at pH 8 and 22° C., as determined by dynamic light scattering of a 0.01% by weight aqueous dilution of the latex at the respective pH.

3. The latex paint of claim 1 , where the polymer particles of the multistage polymer latex binder have a Z average particle diameter in the range from 50 to 500 nm, as determined by dynamic light scattering of a 0.01% by weight aqueous dilution of the latex at pH 8 and 22° C.

4. The latex paint of claim 1 , wherein the monomers M1 are a mixture of:

at least one monomer M1a, selected from C 1 -C 20 -alkyl esters of acrylic acid and C 5 -C 20 -alkylesters of methacrylic acid; and

at least one monomer M1b, selected from vinyl aromatic monomers, C 1 -C 4 -alkyl esters of methacrylic acid and mixtures thereof.

5. The latex paint of claim 4 , where the monomers M1a are selected from C 2 -C 10 -alkyl esters of acrylic acid.

6. The latex paint of claim 1 , where the monomers M1 comprise at least one vinylaromatic monomer.

7. The latex paint of claim 1 , where the monomers M2 are selected from acrylic acid, methacrylic acid and mixtures thereof.

8. The latex paint of claim 1 , where the monomers M3 are selected from hydroxyalkylesters of acrylic acid, hydroxyalkylesters of methacrylic acid, acrylamide, methacrylamide and mixtures thereof.

9. The latex paint of claim 1 , where the monomer composition M consists of:

80 to 99.95% by weight, based on the total weight of the monomer composition M, of ethylenically unsaturated monomers M1;

0.05 to 5% by weight, based on the total weight of the monomer composition M, of one or more monoethylenically unsaturated monomers M2; and

0 to 20% by weight of non-ionic monomers M3.

10. The latex paint of claim 1 ,

wherein the first period P(n) starts at a point of time t(s) and the last period P(n) ends at a point of time t(e),

where t(s) is at a point of time, where at least 10% of the total amount of the monomer composition M to be polymerised have been metered to the polymerisation reaction and where t(e) is at a point of time, where at most 90% of the total amount of the monomer composition M to be polymerised have been metered into the polymerisation reaction.

11. The latex paint of claim 1 , where the multistage emulsion polymerisation process has at least one of the following features i), ii), iii), iv), v) or vi):

i) the total amount of monomers M2 added during the at least one period P(n) to the polymerisation reaction is at least 20% of the monomers M2 contained in the monomer composition M;

ii) the relative amount of monomers M2 added during all of periods P(n) to the polymerisation reaction is from 0.1 to 3% by weight, based on the total weight of the monomer composition M;

iii) the total amount of monomers M2 is from 0.2 to 5% by weight, based on the total weight of the monomer composition M;

iv) the ratio of the total duration of all periods P(n) to the duration of the period P is from 0.002:1 to 0.5:1;

v) the period P is from 0.5 h to 5 h;

vi) the total duration of all periods P(n) is from 0.5 min to 1 h.

12. The latex paint of claim 1 , where the weight ratio of polymer latex, calculated as solids, to titanium dioxide pigment is from 0.1:1 to 5:1.

13. The latex paint of claim 1 , where the polymeric dispersant PD is exclusively formed from monomers M4.

14. The latex paint of claim 1 , where the monomers forming the polymeric dispersant PD comprise at least 85 mol-% of acrylic acid, based on the total amount of the monomers forming the polymeric dispersant.

15. The latex paint of claim 1 , where the polymeric dispersant PD has a number average molecular weight, as determined by GPC, of at most 5000 Dalton.

16. The latex paint of claim 1 , wherein the associative thickener polymer is a linear or branched block copolymer having at least one interior polyethylene oxide block and terminal hydrocarbon groups each having at least 4 carbon atoms.

17. A coating method, comprising coating a surface with the latex paint of claim 1 .