Technology of Waterborne Automotive Paint Systems
Since 1992, PPG's waterborne paint systems have been used by refinishers and OEMs across the globe. What makes these waterborne basecoats successful is their ease of use and ability to match a car's finish regardless of whether the original paint was solventborne or not.
Waterborne Technology—How Does it Work?
Both Aquabase® Plus and Envirobase® High Performance share the same basics of waterborne technology—a low-VOC, high-tech latex resin pigment designed to stay in suspension, making paint preparation as easy as shaking a bottle.
Color pigments are suspended in a specially-formulated acrylic waterborne latex resin. This resin is designed to do a number of things to make an easy-to-use product:
- Solid latex core delivers durable color
- Latex particles cling together for stability
- Pigment and resin remain suspended and resist settling
What this means is that with PPG's waterborne paint systems you can simply shake, pour, spray, and expect the same performance, accuracy, and durability of solventborne systems.
Waterborne vs. Solventborne
While you can expect a PPG water-based system to deliver similar performance and color-matching accuracy of a PPG premium quality solventborne system, there are key differences that you should be aware of as you make your conversion plans.
Mixing
Because the toner pigments are formulated in acrylic waterborne latex resins engineered with anti-settle technology, you no longer need a mechanical mixing machine. This creates an agitation-free mixing room.
Simply tilt the toner bottle back-and-forth 3–4 time and you're ready to pour.
Painters no longer have to wait for toners to be agitated or experience the frustration that can come with mismatches as a result of improper agitation.
Paint mixers will quickly learn how easy it is to mix accurate formulas with these truly unique toners.
Application
Paint technicians will find waterborne basecoat easy to spray—but spray techniques differ slightly from applying solventborne.
Allow adequate time for your technicians to be trained on waterborne products and application techniques and the opportunity to get ”hands-on“ experience in order to become accustomed to how water sprays.
Flashing and Curing
The evaporation characteristics of a water-based basecoat differs from solventborne. While PPG's waterborne systems are very fast and can often outperform solvent basecoats, temperature, humidity and airflow all play a role in the speed.
To achieve the fast flash and cure times that PPG waterborne basecoats are capable of may require the addition of new equipment in the spray booth.