Paints, Varnishes, and Related Products

Abstract

Abstract The complex and diversified requirements of modern industry have to a large extent removed the manufacture of paints and varnishes from the category of an art to that of a science. In most plants, the manufacturing processes are now carried out under careful laboratory control and are freely modified or revised, whenever revision is indicated, in accordance with known scientific principles. As a result, the industry has been able to offer a succession of constantly improved products through periods of fluctuation in the availability of many important raw materials, pressures for solvent replacement to meet emerging air quality standards, and extensive pigment reformulation to replace mercury and lead to conform to new federal regulations on toxicity. A most important development in the modern paint and varnish industry has been the introduction of synthetic resins as replacements for natural resins in the manufacture of varnishes and enamels. By using synthetic resins it has been possible to produce a variety of coatings that, in many cases, have important points of superiority over any of those compounded from natural resins. The synthetic vehicles are particularly distinguished by their hardness and durability and their high degree of resistance to the action of water, alkalies, and other chemical agents.