Paint Technology Information

Q. I’m a graduate student pursuing my master’s degree in integrated technology in polymer science and technology. Right now, I’ve undertaken a project in polymer painting. I recently came across your Web site and found it quite helpful. Can you please help me further by providing information sources on the details about the new inventions in this field, for example the paints mostly used for industrial purposes especially the automobile industry, also the processes involved in painting and the obstacles encountered and particularly the defects that might occur during painting. I’ll be very grateful if you can provide me with some literature references on this topic. Thanking you in anticipation. M. F.

 

A. If you are going into the polymer science and technology field, specifically paints, the first thing you should do to learn about emerging technology is join the Federation of Societies for Coatings Technology. Their eleven-issues-yearly publication, The Journal of Coatings Technology and Research, provides papers describing the latest technology. For inquiries, their Web site is www.coatingstech.org.

To learn about industrial paint usage, application and problems, there are a number of publications available. I will mention a few. Of course, the first is PRODUCTS FINISHING MAGAZINE. Our Web site is www.pfonline.com. Another helpful publication is Coatings World. Their Web site is www.coatingsworld.com. There are others; a Web search using appropriate terms would result in a good starting point.

An excellent source of information on paints, painting, and problems is Industrial Painting and Powdercoating: Principles and Practices, by Norman R. Roobol. It’s published by Gardner Publications (www.pfonline.com). Finally, I have written chapters on paints for several McGraw-Hill Handbooks. The latest is Chapter 6 “Plastics in Coatings and Finishes,” in the Handbook of Plastics, Elastomers, & Composites, fourth edition, 2002. It describes surface preparation and selection of paints, as well as methods of application. The Web site is www.mcgraw-hill.com.