Introduction: Paint swelling is a serious quality issue during storage, manifesting as significant viscosity increase until becoming thick paste, colloid or hard lumps. This article systematically analyzes the causes of three phenomena – false bodying, gelling and livering – and provides complete solutions covering pigment selection, production processes to storage management.
What is Paint Swelling?
- False Bodying: Paint appears thick, flows freely after mechanical stirring, recovers after stopping
- Gelling: Paint changes from liquid to unusable solid/semi-solid, becoming gelatinous
- Livering: Paint becomes hard rubber-like, resembling liver, requires excessive dilution or remains unusable
Common Causes of Paint Swelling
- Formulation Factors:
- False Bodying: High pigment content paints containing talc, zinc oxide, lithopone, red lead
- Pigment-Resin Reaction: Gold powder, chrome yellow with nitrocellulose; saponification of high acid value paints with basic pigments
- Charge Incompatibility: Positive charged colloidal binders with negative charged pigments
- Packaging and Storage:
- Inadequate sealing or underfilling, solvent evaporation
- Moisture ingress promoting livering and gelling
- Excessive storage temperature
Solutions to Prevent and Fix Paint Swelling
- Different Phenomenon Treatments:
- False Bodying: Strong stirring with wooden stick
- Livering: Add thinner for primer use if slight; downgrade or scrap if severe
- Gelling: Mechanical stirring or add少量organic acid; for tung oil, add 3% glycerol with heating
- Formulation and Process Optimization:
- Avoid basic pigments, use lithopone, titanium dioxide, antimony oxide
- Use immediately after preparation for red lead, etc.
- Avoid moisture ingress, avoid production under high humidity
- Storage Management:
- Keep containers sealed, use within 2-3 days after opening
- Store at 15-25℃, avoid sunlight, radiators or stoves
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