Paint is composed of four primary components. There’s the binder, which holds the paint together, the pigment, which gives it its optical and physical properties, the solvent, which helps it go on evenly and change smoothly from a liquid to a solid coating – and then there are the additives. “Additives”, as the word suggests, are simply extra things that are addedinto the paint mixture, to achieve a variety of purposes. While the additives are arguably the least important of all of the paint components, since you could certainly still paint the wall without them, it is the additives that give modern paint their superpowers. Living in a bustling metropolitan area like Washington, DC, today’s local painters and homeowners reap the rewards of thousands of years of paint technology to experience paint products that dry quickly, evenly, and thoroughly, and possess a whole range of other properties in addition. But it wasn’t always that way. Historically, successfully painting your living room could be a difficult undertaking indeed. In order to help modern Washingtonians appreciate how far paint technology has come from then to now, Blue Door Painters is providing this list of paint superpowers – and the additives that are responsible for them.
Brief Glossary of Paint Additives – and their Superpowers
abrasion resistors – improve the surface’s hardness and smoothness so it can be cleaned or rubbed without damage
adhesion promoters – help the film stick to the substrate by roughening the surface, increasing physical absorption of the paint film by the substrate surface, and enhancing the chemical bonding.
anti-blocking agent – Blocking is when the paint on two surfaces sticks together (think about a painted sliding window that sticks to the frame when closed and cannot be reopened). Anti-blocking agents bloom to the surface of a film and create bonding resistance.
anti-cratering agent – Stabilizes paint’s surface tension
anti-float/anti-flood agent – keeps pigments from floating away from each other and creating a streaky effect (floating), or from all of one kind of pigment crowding to the surface as the film dries, muddying the desired blend
anti-foamer/defoamer – prevent bubbles from forming in the coating
anti-freeze – chemical that prevents mechanical damage to a coating in its liquid or film state through exposure to extreme cold (or cold and heat in cycles, which can be the most damaging)
anti-gelling/anti-livering/anti-skinning agent – a chemical that stops the process through which many paints form a film on top of a wet can, or otherwise thicken in the can through an irreversible state change
antioxidant – a chemical that prevents oxygen from reacting with other compounds in the mixture that are vulnerable to oxidation
anti-settling agent – a chemical that deters pigments from sinking to the bottom of a mixture
anti-slip/anti-skid agents – additives used to produce more traction on the paint’s surface
antistatic agents – chemicals that make the surface film less conductive
biocides – any chemical designed to resist organic attack of the paint film, including bacteria, fungi, algae, marine borers, and even certain kinds of insects
brighteners – usually fluorescent dyes or pigments that absorb UV radiation and re-emit it as a violet-blue light that gives white tones a brighter (and less yellow) appearance
burnish-resistors – chemical resistors to “burnishing”, which is the increase of gloss or sheen in areas where the paint coating has been rubbed
chelating additives – chemicals designed to bond with and render harmless any metal impurities
coalescents – chemicals that enhance good film formation during the drying/curing phase of latex paints by softening the edges of the plastic molecules and encouraging them to bond with each other.
corrosion inhibitors – these chemicals prevent rust, and other corrosive metal chemical reactions
craze-resistors – chemicals that prevent cracks or fissures upon shrinkage of the paint film
curing agent – additive that enhances the curing of a film
deaerators – Deaerators prevent the formation of air pores (microfoam and pinhole formation) in a film. dessicants – chemicals that have a high affinity for water absorption, used as drying agents
detergent – a surfactant that is added to remove soiling from a surface
driers – driers are chemicals that accelerates the drying time of paint, ink, or varnish.
dyes – dyes are soluble colorants.
electroconductive additives – compounds that alter the conductivity or resistivity of a system to electricity. emulsifier – chemicals used to produce stable mixtures of two incompatible liquids.
flame retardants – chemicals that will reduce flammability and help fireproof a coating.
flatting agents – particles added to a mixture to scatter light and create a flatter-toned finish
flow modifiers/flow and leveling agents – chemicals added to the mixture to change the paint’s surface tension so that an ideal balance of wetting and leveling is achieved by the paint
hardeners – specific curing compounds that are added to promote, enhance, or control the curing reaction
hindered amine light stabilizers (HALS) – chemicals that scavenge free radicals created by UV radiation, therefore reducing the degradation of polymers due to UV radiation
humectants – additives that prevent a mixture from drying out during storage
impact resistance improvers – these chemicals improve both the flexibility and the adhesion of the film in such a way that it becomes more resilient to damage from various forms of impact
leafing agent – chemical that prevents the metallic flakes in certain metallic pigmented paints from overlapping and creating an undesirable texture
lubricants/slip aids – chemicals that decrease the frictional resistance between surfaces.
moisture barrier – nanoparticles can be used to create a moisture barrier by filling spaces in the film; this allows a form of waterproofing that does not create complications in the adhesion of subsequent coating layers.
moisture scavenger – these chemicals absorb and get rid of moisture leaking into the film through natural drying/curing processes or environmental contamination
plasticizers – materials used to increase the flexibility of an otherwise brittle film
preservative – a compound used to prevent and deter the deteriorating action of microorganisms upon a substance (rather than a biocide, which is actively toxic to attacking biota, preservatives act as a deterrent/hostil environment)
reactive diluent – a viscosity reducing element in the mixture, which actually becomes part of the final coating through chemical reaction with other constituents in the coating. Reactive diluents are not technically solvents, because they are not volatile, and are therefore present in the final coating.
retention aids – chemicals that slow down the evaporation rate of certain solvents, and prevent the entrapment of solvents under a layer of solid elements (pigments, binder components, etc)
rheology modifiers – additives that thicken the mixture and affect the viscosity, flow, and deformation (rheology is the study of the flow and deformation of matter)
soil repellants – a chemical agent that resists soiling by non-biotic elements (dust, dirt, etc)
surface modifier – an additive intended to modify a particular surface property, like friction, surface tension, abrasion resistance, softness to the touch, or appearance
surfactants – compounds that affect surface activity.
suspension agents – substances included in a mixture in order to increase the resistance to pigment settling
synergists – chemicals used to facilitate radiation-initiated polymerization
tackifier – a chemical that will increase the amount of time that a coating stays in a tacky-dry condition
texturizer – an additive that creates a particular surface texture in a cured powder coating
thickeners – materials used to increase the viscosity of a liquid.
wet edge extenders – additives that keep a film open or wet during a painting operation.
wetting agents – additives that improve the mixture’s adhesion through facilitating maximum contact between the liquid and the substrate