SURFACE-COATING

INDUSTRIES
 History
Early inhabitants of the earth recorded their activities in colors on wall of
their caves

Egyptians and Hebrews used pitches and balsams to the exposed wood of
their ships

Egyptians developed the art of painting and had a large number and wide
variety of colors

Around 1700, Thomas Child built the earliest American paint mill

Today, synthetic pigments and stabilizers are commonly used to mass

produce uniform batches of paint
 Historically, surface coatings have
been divided into
 Paints – relatively opaque solid coatings applied as thin
layers, whose films were usually formed by polymerization
of a polyunsaturated oil
 Varnishes – clear coatings
 Enamels – pigmented varnishes
 Lacquers – quick-drying varnishes or paints
 Polishes
 Printing inks
 Uses and Economics
Products of the surface-coating industries are essential
for

 preservation of all types of architectural structures from

ordinary attacks of weather
 increase in attractiveness of manufactured goods, as well as
the aesthetic appeal of a community of homes and their
interiors
 Paints
Liquid paint is a dispersion of a finely divided pigment in a
liquid composed of a resin or binder and a volatile solvent.
The liquid portion is known as the vehicle.

The pigments should be opaque to ensure good covering power

and chemically inert to secure stability. They should be
nontoxic, or at least of very low toxicity, to both the painter
and the inhabitants. Finally, the pigments must be wet by the
film-forming constituents and be of low cost.
 Paint Constituents
 Binder, Vehicle or Resins – is the actual film forming
component of paint. It imparts adhesion, binds the pigments
together, and strongly influences such properties as gloss
potential, exterior durability, flexibility, and toughness.
 Pigments – are granular solids incorporated into the paint
to contribute color, toughness, texture or simply to reduce the
cost of paint.
 Solvents – are used to adjust the curing properties and
viscosity of the paint. They are volatile and do not become
part of the paint film. They also control flow and application
properties, and affect the stability of the paint while in liquid
state. These volatile substances impart their properties
temporarily.
Binders include synthetic or natural resins such as alkyds,
acrylics, polyesters, melamine resins, epoxy or oils.

Pigments can be classified as either natural or synthetic types.

Natural pigments include various clays, calcium carbonate,
mica, silicas and talcs. Synthetics would include calcined
clays, blanc fix, calcium carbonate and synthetic pyrogenic
silicas.

The commonly used solvents are the aliphatics, aromatics,

alcohols, ketones, and white spirit. Sometimes, volatile low-
molecular weight synthetic resins also serve as diluents.
 Additives
Paint can have a variety of miscellaneous additives, which are
usually added in very small amounts and yet give a very
significant effect on the product. Some examples include
additives to

 modify surface tension

 improve flow properties
 improve the finished appearance
 increase wet edge
 improve pigment stability
 impart antifreeze properties
 control foaming
 control skinning
Proper paint formulation centers around the specific
requirement of the particular application. These
requirements are hiding power, color, weather resistance,
washability, gloss, metal anticorrosive properties, and
consistency.

For the modern paint formulator, some authorities believe the

most important concept is that of pigment volume
concentration (PVC). It is defined as

PVC = (volume of pigment in paint)/

(volume of pigment in paint + volume of nonvolatile vehicle
constituents in paint)
As a consequence, there is usually a range of PVC for a given
paint, as indicated in the following tabulation:

 Flat paints, 50-75%

 Semigloss paints, 35-45%
 Gloss paints, 25-35%
 Exterior paints, 28-36%
 Metal primers, 25-40%
 Wood primers, 35-40%

At the critical PVC and beyond, the resistance properties of the

paint decrease, as the film becomes porous, causing the paint
to weather faster and lose abrasion resistance and flexibility.
 Manufacturing Procedures
●
● The pigment is premixed with resin, one
Making the paste or more solvents, and additives to form a
paste.

●
● For
For industrial
industrial paints,
paints, the
the paste
paste mixture
mixture isis routed
routed into
into aa sand
sand mill
mill
that agitates tiny particles of sand or silica to grind the pigment
that agitates tiny particles of sand or silica to grind the pigment
particles,
particles, making
making them
them smaller
smaller and
and dispersing
dispersing them
them throughout
throughout
Dispersing the pigment the mixture.
the mixture.
For
For household
household paints,
paints, the
the premixed
premixed paste
paste isis subjected
subjected toto aa high-
●
●
high-
speed agitation by a circular, toothed blade attached to a
speed agitation by a circular, toothed blade attached to a rotatingrotating
shaft.
shaft.
 ●
● Whether created by a sand mill or by dispersion tank,
the paste must now be thinned to produce the final
product.
Thinning the paste ●
● After being transferred to large kettles, it is agitated
with the proper amount of solvent for the type of paint
desired.

●
● The finished paint product is then pumped into the
canning room. Empty cans are rolled horizontally onto
labels, then set upright so that the paint can be
Canning the paint pumped into them. A machine places lids onto the
filled cans, and a second machine presses on the lids to
seal them.
 Paint Failure
The failure of paints is to stand up under wear may be related to
several causes, and in each case there is a special term used to
describe the failure.

 Chalking – is a progressive powdering of the paint film from

the surface inward that is caused by continued and
destructive oxidation of the oil after the original drying of the
paint
 Erosion – very rapid chalking
 Flaking (peeling) – is due to poor attachment of the paint
to the surface being covered and is usually attributed to dirt
or grease on the surface or to water entering from behind the
paint.
 Alligatoring – is a form of peeling in which the center
portion of the section starting to peel remains attached to the
surface
 Checking – denotes a very fine type of surface cracking,
occurs when paint coatings become too thick

The most common cause of premature paint failure is moisture.

Paint on the outside walls of houses is subject to wetting from
rain and dew. Equally as serious is ‘unseen’ moisture moving
from inside the house to the outside.
 Varnishes
A varnish is an unpigmented colloidal dispersion or solution of
synthetic and/or natural resins in oils and/or thinners used as
a protective and/or decorative coating for various surfaces
and which dries by evaporation, oxidation, and
polymerization of portions of its constituents.
Not being pigmented, varnishes are less resistant to damage by
light than are paints, enamels, and pigmented lacquers. They
furnish, however, a transparent film, which accentuates the
texture of the surface coated.
After being applied, the film-forming substances in varnishes
either harden directly, or harden after evaporation of the
solvent through certain curing processes, primarily chemical
reaction between oils and oxygen from the air and chemical
reactions between components of the varnish.
 Types of Varnish
 Spirit varnishes – are solution of resins, but the solvent is
completely volatile and nonfilm-forming. They dry most
rapidly but are likely to be brittle and eventually crack and
peel off unless suitable plasticizers are added.
Example: shellac
 Japans – uses resins base similar to spirit varnishes but
involves applying several coats which are heat-dried and
polished.
 Lacquers
Lacquer is a hard, glossy, clear or colored coating made up of
resins or cellulose derivatives and a plasticizer in a volatile
solvent.
Although their names may be similarly derived, lacquer is not
the same as varnish and is not dissolved in alcohol. It is
dissolved in lacquer thinner, which is a highly-flammable
solvent typically containing butyl acetate and xylene or
toluene.
Lacquer is typically sprayed on, within a spray booth that
evacuates overspray and minimizes the risk of combustion.