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How do tinting and paint mixing systems work?

What is a tinting system?

Paint and lacquer manufacturers need intelligent tinting systems in order to be able to offer satisfactory products for decorative and industrial coatings. For this they use tinters (pigment pastes). The tinting pastes are used both in factory tinting facilities and also locally in mixing systems at the point of sale, in which tinting systems tailored to customer wishes deliver an optimum tint result.

So that the tinting system with its configuration of generally 12 to 32 pastes achieves the desired shades, comprehensive tests are first run with the pigment dispersions and product bases. The precise calculation of any shade via colour metrics programmes enables the production of bespoke colour swatches. The tint concept created in this way is transferred to the factory systems or mixing systems at the point of sale and colour products can then be made in the required quantities.

What happens in a paint mixing system?

Local mixing systems are the ideal solution in order to be able to make up tinting and pigment pastes on a bespoke just-in-time basis in the volumes wanted by the customer. The formulae worked out in advance in laboratory tests using selected pastes get imported into the mixing system. It is important here that the quality and composition of the base was known in advance and has been taken into account in the formulae. Only in this way can it be ensured that, for instance, the titanium oxide pigments of the base and the pigments in our pastes produce the desired shade through their interaction with each other. Many shades are reproduced by individual drops of different pastes being added, the amounts being precisely controlled by the mixing system. The base and paste then need to be shaken up together. This process ensures that the distribution of the pigment paste within the base is as homogeneous as possible in order to always achieve the desired shade with the tinting system.

Protec^® tinting pastes: a good solution for decorative paints and industrial coatings

The tinting system described is mainly to be found in operational businesses and the associated retail trade that make up or sell paints. Industrial coatings are generally performed not with the help of mixing systems, but rather via factory tinting facilities.

Naturally, Protec is also able to work out formulae for your desired factory tinting process. The finished tint result gets checked so that the paste can be sent to the customer and directly applied in the desired industrial application.