A proposed new standard being developed by ASTM International Committee D01 on Paint and Related Coatings, Materials and Applications would provide the coatings industry with an industry-wide method for evaluating the ability of an architectural paint system to block ink stains from typical markers and writing instruments from bleeding through primer or basecoat into a topcoat. The proposed standard, WK14688, Test Method for Ink Stainblocking of Architectural Paint Systems, is under the jurisdiction of Subcommittee D01.42 on Architectural Coatings.

According to Neal Rogers, chair of D01.42 and technical services representative, Cook Composites and Polymers, WK14688 will be used by chemists and paint formulators who evaluate architectural primer systems for companies in the coatings industry. Rogers says that coatings manufacturers will find WK14688 helpful for performance evaluations of interior primers and for benchmarking against competitive products. The proposed standard will also guide manufacturers of raw materials for coatings in evaluating coatings resins and additives on stainblocking performance.

In addition to manufacturers, architectural specifiers will be able to employ WK14688 as a tool to ensure that primers will block stains as claimed. “For instance,” says Rogers, “the Florida School Plant Management Association maintains paint specifications that must be met in order for a coating to be recommended for application in public schools. One FSPMA specification, MP-38.1, requires a universal stainblocking primer to achieve a pass rating on an ink stainblocking test in order to be listed as a certified product.”

Subcommittee D01.42 invites interested parties to participate in its standards developing activities. Rogers says that the subcommittee would be particularly interested in people who have experience with a method that employs the application of ink stains so as to allow assessment using color measurement techniques. “Our current drafts of this method include a qualitative evaluation, such as a 1-10 rating scale, to rate how effective the coating is at blocking each stain,” says Rogers. “If practical, we wish to make the method more quantitative in nature, with spectrophotometer measurements to quantify the appearance effects of stains bleeding through the coating.”

Committee D01 will meet June 17-19 in Cleveland, Ohio. For technical information, contact Rogers at 816.391.6279 or rogers@ccplonline.com. For membership or meeting information, contact Timothy Brooke, manager, Technical Committee Operations, ASTM International, at 610.832.9729 or tbrooke@astm.org.