Rheology control additive containing cyclic amides

A composition comprising

• one or more urea-based compounds (A) having a number average molecular weight (Mn) between 350 g/mol and 30000 g/mol, determined by gel permeation chromatography according to DIN 55672 part 2 (year 2016), wherein the urea-based compound is selected from the formulas
• where
• AM is selected from a linear or branched, saturated or unsaturated, aliphatic, cycloaliphatic, aromatic or aliphatic-aromatic organic radical having 2 to 50 C atoms, in case of multiple occurrence of AM, AM is independently selected from a linear or branched, saturated or unsaturated, aliphatic, cycloaliphatic, aromatic or aliphatic-aromatic organic radical having 2 to 50 C atoms,
• AM1 and AM2 independently of one another represent a linear or branched, saturated or unsaturated, aliphatic, aromatic or aliphatic-aromatic organic radical having 1 to 50 C atoms, in case of multiple occurrence of AM1 and AM2, AM1 and AM2 represent independently the radical described above for AM1 and AM2,
• IC1 and IC2 independently of one another represent a linear or branched, saturated or unsaturated, aliphatic, aromatic or aliphatic-aromatic hydrocarbon radical having 2 to 40 C atoms, in case of multiple occurrence of IC1 and IC2, IC1 and IC2 represent independently the radical described above for IC1 and IC2,
• IC3 represents a linear or branched, saturated or unsaturated, aliphatic, aromatic or aliphatic-aromatic hydrocarbon radical having 2 to 24 carbon atoms, in case of multiple occurrence of IC3, IC3 independently represents a linear or branched, saturated or unsaturated, aliphatic, aromatic or aliphatic-aromatic hydrocarbon radical having 2 to 24 carbon atoms,
• RP1 and RP2 independently of one another represent a linear or branched, saturated or unsaturated, aliphatic, aromatic or aliphatic-aromatic organic radical having 1 to 24 C atoms and/or a polyether radical having 1 to 120 ether oxygen atoms and/or a polyester radical having 1 to 100 ester groups and optionally containing ether groups, and/or a polyamide radical having 1 to 100 amide groups, and/or a polysiloxane radical having 3 to 100 silicon atoms, in case of multiple occurrence of RP1 and RP2, RP1 and RP2 represent independently the radicals described above for RP1 and RP2,
• RP3 represents a linear or branched, saturated or unsaturated, aliphatic, aromatic or aliphatic-aromatic organic radical having 2 to 24 C atoms and/or a (poly) ether radical having 1 to 120 ether oxygen atoms and/or a polyamide radical having 1 to 100 amide groups and/or a polysiloxane radical having 3 to 100 silicon atoms and/or a polyester radical having 1 to 100 ester groups and optionally containing ether groups, in case of multiple occurrence of RP3, RP3 independently represents the radicals described above for RP3, and m is an integer from 1 to 5, p represents 0 and/or 1, q is an integer from 0 to 20, and when the composition comprises a urea-based compound of formula (U-2a), at least 50 wt. % of all urea-based compounds in the composition are according to formula (U-2a),
• one or more N-substituted caprolactam derivatives (B) according to formula (I)
• wherein R1 is an organic group having 1 to 2 carbon atoms and wherein R1 contains no oxygen atoms linked by single bonds, and wherein the caprolactam derivative comprises at least one of N-methylcaprolactam, N-ethylcaprolactam, N-acetylcaprolactam, and mixtures thereof, and wherein
• the one or more urea-based compounds (A) comprise molecules containing at least four urea groups.