One of the basic properties of a paint is the colour of the obtained varnish coat. The colour of the paint is critical first of all for decorative values of paints, but it can also have other significance/application – depending on the pigments used to obtain it, next to the purely decorative functions, the pigments provide an additional protection, for instance, against corrosion or UV radiation. It happens many times that the pigments present in the recipe of paint are selected just having that in mind. 

Pigments are one of the most important components of paints – they are added to the mixer where the paint is manufactured at the initial stage of its production together with a small volume of a resin. After the initial blending the pigment paste, possibly with filling additives, is subject to the process of further rubbing or dispergation, during which the homogenization of pigments takes place and they are also triturated into homogenous particles of diameter usually not exceeding 10µm in the case of the solvent paints, and 100µm in the water soluble paints, for instance, in the emulsion paints for wall painting.

Then, the other components are added to the paints – it is called the equalization process. During this, also, the process of obtaining the colour exactly matching the assumed reference standard takes place. To this end just the pigment pastes are used – they are special pastes containing the triturated pigments with addition of some ancillary agents which task is to stabilize the paste and facilitate the „introduction” of pigments to the equalized paint.

Pigment pastes can also completely replace the dry pigments used in the production process. Following this, the paint production process is shorter and easier as it is more reasonable to prepare earlier some pigments difficult for dispergation and to add them to the already ready paint in the form of the pigment paste at the proper moment of the production process. Quite important it is also to eliminate from the paint production process the dry, dust-forming components.

See details of the products in the next sections:

1. Aqueous pigment pastes BETAPRINT