DEVICE FOR PREDICTING AMOUNT OF COARSE FLAKES IN COATING COMPOSITIONS BY WET COLOR MEASUREMENT

摘要

The present invention is directed to a device for predicting amount of coarse flakes, such as metallic aluminum flakes present in a coating composition, such as automotive OEM or refinish paint. The device includes measuring flop of a layer of the coating composition applied over a test substrate by using flop prediction device of the present invention. The process is repeated with varying amounts of one or more different types of coarse flakes added to the composition and the flop vs. amount of coarse flakes present in the coating composition is plotted on a graph and then by using a curve fitting equation, a flake amount prediction curve is obtained. By measuring the flop of a wet layer of a target coating composition, the amount of coarse flakes present in the target coating composition can then be predicted by using the flake amount prediction curve. The device is most useful during the manufacture of coating compositions, such as automotive OEM and refinishes paints.

主权项

1. A flake prediction device for predicting amount of coarse flakes in a target coating composition, comprising:
a test substrate mounted on a driver that is mounted on a support frame; a vessel positioned adjacent to said test substrate such that a S0 coating composition when poured in said vessel can be dispensed as a L0 layer of substantially uniform thickness on a surface of said test substrate through an opening provided on said vessel, the S0 coating composition comprising F0 parts by weight of said coarse flakes based on 100 parts by weight of said S0 coating composition; an optical measurement mechanism for projecting on said L0 layer a beam of light of a preset intensity at a preset angle of incidence from a light source; an optical measurement instrument to measure B0 flop of said beam reflected from said L0 layer at a preset angle of reflectance; a computer configured to:
store said B0 flop of said L0 layer in a computer usable storage medium of the computer;store B1 to Bn flops of L1 to Ln layers resulting from S1 to Sn coating compositions respectively comprising F1 to Fn parts by weight of said coarse flakes based on 100 parts by weight respectively of said S1 to Sn coating compositions, wherein n ranges from 1 to 100;locate intersecting points on a graph where said B0 to Bn flops of said L0 to Ln layers laying on X-axis of said graph intersect with said F0 to Fn parts by weight of said coarse flakes laying on Y-axis of said graph;utilize a curve fitting equation to produce a flake amount prediction curve on said graph;store BT flop of LT layer of said substantially uniform thickness of a target coating composition where said BT flop is obtained by projecting said beam of light at said preset intensity and at said preset angle of incidence from said light 35 source, said target coating composition further comprising said coarse flakes;locate said BT flop of said LT layer on said X-axis of said graph;locate an intersecting point on said flake amount prediction curve that intersects with said BT flop on said X-axis of said graph;predict amount of said coarse flakes contained in said target composition by locating YT on said Y-axis of said graph that intersects with said intersecting point on said flake amount prediction curve that intersects with said BT on said X-axis of said graph; andpresent said predicted amount YT of said coarse flakes contained in said target composition.