COATING FORMULATORS FREQUENTLY USE extender pigments to reduce the raw material cost of a coating formulation and, in some cases, improve coating performance. Extender pigments are relatively inexpensive compared to titanium dioxide or color pigments and are easily incorporated …
PEARLESCENT PIGMENTS, SOMETIMES REFERRED TO as nacreous pigments, are attempts to create the natural pearl luster effects seen in pearls or sea shells [1]. These pigments are highrefractive-index coatings on thin transparent flakes. The high-refractive-index material reflects in…
When light enters a paint film, some or all of it is absorbed or reflected by the film before reaching the substrate, thereby hiding the substrate to a lesser or greater degree. The light that reaches the substrate is partly absorbed by it and partly reflected back in conformanc…
CORROSION IS AN ELECTROCHEMICAL PROCESS that takes place on the surface of metals, deteriorating them and-if not halted-destroying them. The process usually occurs in a liquid or gaseous environment and may take the form of a direct chemical attack, electrochemical reaction, ele…
TO PERFORM PROPERLY IN USE, a coating must possess the proper amount of flexibility and toughness to withstand cracking when subjected to stresses produced by shrinking or swelling, forming, mechanical abuse, and weathering. Flexibility is the ability of a material to be bent or…
THE APPEARANCE OF AN OBJECT or material can be described by its color and gloss characteristics. Like color, gloss can be subdivided into several aspects depending on viewing conditions. In 1937, Richard Hunter identified five aspects of gloss [1] and the functions of reflectanc…
