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Take Back Control: Designing, Formulating and Possibly
Producing Your Own Zero‐VOC Tinting System
By: Hersjel Wehrens
Market Development Manager
Elementis Specialties Inc.
1‐ Introduction
Universal colorants have been around for about 50 years, and unlike most paints, have never been
seriously reformulated. Their technology is outdated, and causes many paint defects that paint
manufacturers have learned to formulate around. The move to zero VOC formulations provides an
opportunity to reimagine tinting systems.
By breaking a tinting system apart into its most basic components it becomes possible to build a truly
customized tinting system. This paper is about how, using state of the art wetting agents, dispersing
agents, and humectants (to prevent tip drying) customers are able to make their own tinting systems.
We will show what features a tinting system should have to keep pace with changes in the market.
There is a move toward more light fast pigments, better hiding pigments and organic colorants at higher
concentrations. The concurrent trends of 0‐VOC formulations and diminishing trade sales alkyds means
that the legacy “one size fits all” colorants strategy, is corrupt. Customers are looking for solutions that
are tailored to their needs.
2‐ Tinting System History
Tinting systems for architectural colorants were invented in the United States in the1950’s to meet an
increasing demand for colors while reducing the amount of SKU’s a store needed to keep. They
contained 12 colorants with which 95% of all colors could be formulated, they have been the blue print
for the industry ever since. Over the years, some colorants got switched, some pigments taken out ,
some added, but the basic setup is still the same. In Europe larger changes were put in place, the system
was often enlarged to 16 canisters or even more; inorganic colorants were added; and higher strength
organic colorants. The North American market stayed pretty much unchanged until fairly recently. With
new legislation due to take effect in California in 2014 concerning VOC’s in tinting system colorants
companies are reimagining their tinting system.
Latin America came to the tinting system game relatively late with the first systems being put into place
in the late 80’s. Traditional “ready‐mix” factory tinted colors are still readily available in most markets.
Tinting systems are typically only used for the higher end range of paints and have thus not met their full
potential. From a tinting system point of view Latin America is a bit of an amalgam; most companies
have chosen for the North American type of systems with 12 colorants, while some have gone with 12
or 16 canister European systems.
3‐ Current Trends in Tinting Systems
With the change in VOC legislation in the US new life seems to have been breathed in an old industry
once stagnant in technology and innovation. The changes can be broadly divided into two categories:
pigmentation: anything to do with the pigment types, pigment concentration and amount of canisters
used in a tinting system; and technology, anything to do with the surfactant package, glycols, humectant
package, and the VOC level of the colorants of a tinting system.
Pigmentation
Pigmentation has always been an issue in tinting system, no matter how many canisters you have in
your system you will always have to make a compromise. In the traditional 12 canister systems, there
was not a lot of redundancy. There have been a number of changes in the market.
Hiding power
For many years the limiting factor in the concentration of colorants in a tinting system has been the
accuracy of the tinting machine. Most paint companies and colorant manufacturers still formulate their
colors using 1/96th of a fluid ounce.
Tinting machines, although most of the civilized world uses the metric system with SI units, tinting
machines (even automatic ones) still use good ol’ gallons to measure the amount of colorant that is
being dispensed by a tinting machine. A gallon can be divided into 128 fluid ounces and a fluid ounce in
itself is divided into 1/48th of a fluid ounce for a tinting system. The first tinting machines had an
accuracy of 1/48th of a fluid ounce, after that came the 1/96th which was the standard for years. Most
paint companies and colorant manufacturers still formulate their colors with this accuracy. Automatic
machines went to 1/192nd then 1/384th and now can go to 1/728th or even more accurate. Manual
machines followed the trend and go to 1/384th as well nowadays. The accuracy of a tinting machine is
important since it allows for higher concentrated colorants. The original universal colorants were limited
in their pigment concentration by the accuracy of the tinting machine: the smallest increment of the
machine needed to give a light enough color to be able to effectively match most pastel colors in
quart/liter containers of paint. Nowadays, with tinting machines 2‐4 times more accurate as before the
concentration of the colorants can be 2‐4 times higher as well where feasible. Higher concentrated
colorants have better hiding power and are more cost effective.
Light fastness
The traditional colorant systems have limited light fastness in the red and yellow color range. The red is
a Naphthol red and the yellow is an azo yellow. Companies have worked around this problem by
recommending a limited color palette to be used outside. This might work fine in countries like the USA
or many countries in Europe where colors are relatively muted, but in many Latin American countries
people like vibrant colors on the outside of their houses. A solution is to have more than one bright
yellow or red in your system, one for economy, and one for performance.
Technology
Technology hasn’t changed in tinting systems for decades with the major suppliers relying on a
combination of 5‐6 different anionic and nonionic dispersants to disperse the pigments and, very
important, make the colorant compatible with solventborne alkyd paints.
Compatibility in alkyds
The vast majority of architectural tinting systems are water based colorants that are made compatible
with solventborne paints by adding copious amounts of extra surfactants to emulsify the water in the
solvent phase. These large amounts of extra surfactants can wreak all kinds of havoc on paint
properties. They cause the dreaded viscosity drop when adding universal colorants to paints thickened
with associative thickeners. They can influence early water resistance, they can influence blocking
resistance, scrub resistance (both positively and negatively), gloss, you name it.
VOC, APE
In Europe VOC has been a major issue in the paint industry since the mid 1990’s starting in Scandinavia,
and working its way down to Southern Europe. In the United States the strange phenomenon occurred
where the VOC of colorants that were added in a paint store to the paint (e.a. with a tinting system)
didn’t count toward total VOC this will change in 2014, well at least for part of California. Alkyl Phenol
Ethoxylates are chemical compounds that are bad for aquatic life when they end up in the surface
water; they have been banned in Europe for years. Any new development should be APE‐free to start off
with.
Viscosity drop
Associative HEUR Thickeners have been a main stay in the rheological additives market. Up until now
they have had one major drawback: the more efficient they are, the more subject they become to
something that is known in the industry as “viscosity drop”. Viscosity drop occurs at its worst when a
waterbased acrylic paint that is formulated with a HEUR associative thickener is tinted with so called
Point of Sales (POS) colorants (figure 1). The viscosity might drop as much as 55 KU. Especially deeper
colors that require more colorant addition are affected. Paint manufacturers have learned to formulate
around this problem by using combinations of thickeners to reduce the viscosity drop, but the core issue
has never been addressed; the colorants are causing the drop.
The effect of the drop in viscosity can be quite severe resulting in thin coatings and increased sag. The
loss in rheology can cause instability of the paint film resulting in color acceptance issues like floating
showing as a darkening of the color with a lighter rub‐up. In addition, there can be a significant colorant‐
to‐colorant variation in the amount of viscosity drop observed which makes it difficult to predict the
final viscosity for a paint that is tinted to a specific color.
The major components that are responsible for the observed viscosity drop are the surfactants used in
the colorants. However, not all surfactants produce a viscosity drop, nor is the observed viscosity change
a simple function of the surfactant concentration. In fact, formulators use this effect when formulating a
base paint where the intentional addition of surfactants alters the rheology of base paint. One
surfactant can produce a net build in the viscosity while another surfactant can produce a net reduction
in viscosity but only after it goes through a viscosity maximum. Typically, there is a positive correlation
of the viscosity drop to the HLB scale (Hydrophile‐Lipophile Balance) of the surfactant with high HLB
surfactants leading to higher viscosity drops. New tinting systems should be developed to have limited
viscosity drop.
4 Tinting System Design
It seems that a “one size fits all” colorant system is not going to do the trick. Many paint manufacturers
are looking for customized options. So we wanted to design a colorant line that can be as flexible as
possible, so it can meet all the different needs and can be customized easily. We started by developing a
colorant on a dispersant package that causes the least amount of viscosity drop, keeping this colorant as
simple as possible: maximum pigment concentration, ultra low VOC, APE free, and just compatible with
waterbased coatings (not universal). Using this high concentrated “simple” colorant as a starting point
all additional colorant properties can be achieved in the let down to the regular POS strength of the
colorant. The let down determines if the colorant is going to be universal (by adding 6‐7% dispersant
extra) or not, if the colorant is going to be low VOC, ethylene glycol based, or propylene glycol based. All
these additives need to be carefully screened to ensure that they do not have an effect on the viscosity
of the associative thickened paint.
The first colorant we developed was a high concentrated, APE free, low VOC, aqueous only, black
colorant. Black because it is one of the colorants that show the biggest viscosity drop, black because it is
very difficult to stabilize properly. Once we developed it we tested if we could let it down to the (much
lower) POS strength using an extender slurry based on the same dispersants as the black was based on.
Once we formulated a well working extender slurry (look at it as a transparent colorant), we determined
which surfactants could be added to this mixture to make it compatible with solventborne alkyds,
without influencing the viscosity of an associative thickened waterborne paint. After this we developed
the other high concentrated versions of the 11 colorants typically found in an architectural POS colorant
system.
To ensure consistent and predictable results across the different colors we used the same dispersant
package for all colorants although the amounts and ratios of the different dispersants in this package
may vary from color to color. All other lines will be let downs from these high concentrated colorants so
they will all be based on these same dispersants. This has the advantage that change‐overs from one
line to the next (e.g. from ethylene glycol universal to low VOC aqueous) will be relatively easy and
straight forward.
Considering the amount of possible combinations we decided to commercialize four different colorant
lines. We decided to let the high concentrated colorant line down with a APE‐free, zero‐VOC kaolin‐clay
slurry to make a non‐universal, zero‐VOC and APE free POS colorant line with the same pigments and
strengths as what is currently available in the market. The second colorant line was made from the high
concentrated colorants by letting them down with an ethylene glycol based kaolin‐clay slurry, together
with 6‐7% of extra surfactant resulting in an APE free, universal colorant line mimicking what is currently
available in the market. The third line we commercialized is the same as the UT line where the glycol has
been replaced with a high boiling point humectant combination to make a zero‐VOC universal line. A
blend of proprietary humectants is added to give the color a better open time, so it doesn’t block the
nozzles of the tinting machine resulting in misstints. We also decided to commercialize the high
concentrated colorant as VOC free alternatives for inplant tinting
This concept is extremely flexible and makes us very adapt to react to shifts in the architectural coatings
market. It is relatively easy to customize these colorants In order to make a special line, you only need to
develop a new extender slurry to let the high concentrated colorants down with. You can make a low
VOC universal line, that contains calcium carbonate instead of kaolin clay, you can make a propylene
glycol containing non‐universal colorant line, you can even double or quadruple most of the organic
colorants resulting in better hiding power or lower additions of colorants.
Most companies in the Americas are limited by the amount of canisters they have in their system; for
most companies this is 12. The investment to retrofit current machines or replace them is often found
cost prohibitive so the name of the game is to get as many of the design features and benefits out of the
current 12 canister systems. Fortunately there is some redundancy built into tinting systems. In order to
make most colors usually found in color marketing tools like color fandecks you only need 9 colorants:
A yellow oxide and red oxide. Red and yellow oxide are very durable, inexpensive pigments that are
used in a vast range of popular colors, though not strictly necessary to reach a broad spectrum of
colorants their light and chemical fastness (and their cost) make them inescapable in the making of a
tinting system.
A white is paradoxically needed to make dark colors. White is usually only used in the neutral/clear base.
It is added in color matching when a color in this base needs to be made a little lighter. A black is needed
to make colors darker and less saturated. It is also used a lot in the popular earth tone, beige and ochre
colors.
The organic yellow and red is the more problematic area. Where before inexpensive, high opacity, lead
chromate yellows and molybdate reds were used, because of their toxicity they were replaced by
organic red and yellows. Organic yellows and red have the disadvantage that they don’t hide very well,
and are relatively expensive. This is more the case now for the yellow, since with the recent glut of DPP
producers this opaque red pigment has become relatively inexpensive and widely used in tinting
systems. Bismuth Vanadate, a bright inorganic yellow, with good opacity and good exterior durability is
cost prohibitive for most architectural applications.
A magenta, phthalo blue and phtalo green round out the nine basic colorants you need to make a tinting
system work. The phthalos are organic pigments with very decent light fastness. In most tinting systems
though they are very low concentrated, so they will not give good opacity to colors.
This makes 9 colorants, which means that there are 3 canisters left open to play with if we assume a 12
canister system. Anything you add to this system at this point is used to improve the system. You could
add a high concentrated version of the blue for lower cost of use, or better opacity in mass tones, add a
DPP red for better light fastness and better hiding, or a bismuth Vanadate yellow, for better light
fastness you could add a higher concentrated magenta for more opaque burgundy and violet colors.
Using high concentrated colorants has two major benefits, it can give you better opacity in deep colors
and in the other bases it will reduce the amount of colorant that needs to be added to reach the same
colors. This will be better for the paint (less colorant addition is always better), but will also be less
expensive. Let’s assume 2 pigment dispersions, one at 5% pigment concentration, and one at 40%
pigment concentration. Let’s say the pigment costs $ 16/kg and the rest of the colorant, the dispersants,
fillers, glycols, cost $ 1 per kg. In that case the low concentrated colorant costs 0.05* $16 + 0.95*$1= $
1.75/kg. The high concentrated colorant costs: 0.4* $16 + 0.6* $1= $ 7.00/kg. The cost is four times
higher, but the concentration is eight times higher, making the colorant 2 times less expensive to use.
This just takes raw material cost into account. It also takes 8 times less time to produce, 8 times less
colorant to QC, 8 times less colorant to ship, etc. All in all it is a way to take some of the cost out of a
tinting system.
5‐ Base Paint Matrix
Theoretically you just need one base for a tinting system. A clear base; most colors will be mixed by
adding a white colorant. This approach has obvious disadvantages: there is only a limited amount of
colorant you can add to a paint before the colorant will affect the paint properties too much; for
universal colorants this is 10% ‐ 12% by volume. Since architectural paints are usually applied at
relatively thin films that amount of colorant cannot guarantee full opacity. Cost is an issue too; in order
to work with just 1 base all colors will be made with the maximum amount of colorant added, the full
10% by volume. Since colorants are usually much more expensive than paint this can become pretty
pricey. To reduce colorant addition more bases are added. A good number of bases to have are three to
four: a pastel to make pastels, which will be up to 70 % of your total volume, a medium to make
midtones, a deep to make deeptones and a clear base to make the darkest colors.
Colored bases are for a large part a thing of the past. They are added to a tinting system to combat a
particular problem: hiding power of yellow and red colors made in a neutral/clear base. From a technical
point of view they don’t work well: in order to get good hiding power they need to be formulated with
high organic yellow or organic red pigmentation. This amount of pigment then makes it difficult to move
the base over when matching a color. Traditional universal colorants are pretty low concentrated, so not
enough pigment can be added with the colorant addition to shade the colored base in one direction or
the other. Colored bases consequently can cover only a very limited color space, usually less than 1% of
a typical fandeck. Commercially they don’t work for the same reason, only very few colors are actually
made with them, and typically they are the type of colors that are not very popular (bright yellow,
orange and red) in a typical setting were architectural paints are being used. At the end you are adding a
lot of SKU’s
6‐ Producing your own colorants
Elementis is in the unique position in that it sells both dispersants and tinting systems, so it sells both
the building blocks and the end product. This makes us uniquely suited as a partner in your tinting
system needs, we can help you with implementing a ready‐made tinting system, but can also help you
develop your own tinting system using our expertise in actual working universal colorants using our vast
array of wetting agents, dispersants and humectants.