Computer Simulation of Particle Packing in Acrylic Latex Paints

By G.T. Nolan, P.E. Kavanagh

Computer simulation of the random close packing of hard pigment particles and deformable latex particles in acrylic latex paint systems is described.The simulation requires only the particle size distribution of the pigment, the particle size distribution of the latex, and the deformation or softness of the latex.

If these data are known, the packing density can be determined from the simulation. If paints with a range of pigment volume concentrations (PVC) are simulated, the critical PVC can be predicted from plots of packing density against PVC. The predicted values are in good agreement with experiment.