TABLE OF CONTENTS The major components of paint by mass are generally pigment, resin and solvent. It would be expected that these materials would effectively dominate the manufacture, and subsequent performance of the paint film. In most cases, this is true. However, situations commonly arise where the use of relatively low levels of specialised additives is essential in order to make paint or to achieve the required performance. The effects of these materials can be dramatic, making all the difference between a viable paint and a total failure. Careful selection of additives and use levels, together with an understanding of the potential interactions are extremely important. It should be stressed that although interactions may be well understood in some instances, the system dependency is such that they are not predictable and great care must be taken at all times.
The most common paint additives will be described in this section. Each of the topics is a science or a technology in its own right, so the treatment here can only be brief.
Wetting and dispersing agents aid the incorporation of pigments and fillers into paints. The incorporation or dispersion process is one of the most important steps in paint manufacture. The purpose of the dispersion process is to break down the pigment agglomerates to the optimum particle size. If this is not achieved, a variety of defects can occur such as flocculation, poor development of colour and colour shift, flooding and floating, settling and loss of...
