This is a continuation of the article begun in the September 2020 issue of CoatingsTech. Part 1 ended with film formation but had not discussed paint flow, which occurs during making of the paint, its application, and through film formation. The formulation undergoes a wide range of shear stresses on pigment dispersion, mixing, storage, application, and post-application. It responds to...
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I have never been a formulator, but I have worked with formulators for nearly 50 years and learned a lot from them. In this article and the one that will follow, I will set out what I think are the things that need to be understood to formulate superior coatings. Readers may say that much here is obvious, but I...
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Pigment dispersion quality in pastes and paints may be tested by one of several different techniques. Probably the most common method in labs and plants is taking readings with a grind gauge, usually the Hegman type (ASTM D1210). The main reason for doing this for pastes usually is to see whether the dispersion process has reached the required end point...
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A friend recently wanted to know about pigment grinding, which made me realize that I had better begin this article by saying that we do not grind pigments, we disperse them. A bag of pigment contains clumps that must be separated into smaller clumps or individual particles. This is necessary in order to produce paint that provides good appearance on...
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In June/July of 2019, I was irradiated with Bremsstrahlung X-rays to knock out prostate cancer. The radiation did its job, and the cancer appears to be gone. Being fair-skinned, I also have experienced skin cancer. My experiences have made me think about radiation effects on coatings for good or ill, as well as on me. We use UV and IR...
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I have published many of the thoughts and recommendations in this article previously in CoatingsTech. However, since paint problems continue to occur and there may be new readers facing them, I thought that this was a good time to discuss problem solving yet again. Surface defects probably are the most common type of paint problem, but it is not always clear...
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The coating system almost always is blamed for field defects, but there are other possibilities: design of the painted object, poor substrate quality or surface preparation, and the process, including application and cure. Was the painting done in the sun? Or in the rain? Were the freshly painted rail cars pushed out into fog? Were all the required coats applied?...
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It may seem strange to link sustainability with pigment dispersion, but an important strategy for improving coatings sustainability is to make higher quality coatings that last longer and to make them more efficiently. Increasing the effectiveness of pigment dispersion saves time and money, improves appearance, reduces the frequency of surface defects, cuts down on pigment usage, and is likely to...
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This issue of CoatingsTech includes an interesting article by Cynthia Challener on the current state of R&D in our industry. Reading it made me think about my experiences in R&D and how the work and its focus changed over the years. After spending several years doing relatively applied academic research on polymers, I began my career in coatings R&D in...
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