Emily Newton

Refinishing is about more than just making a car look new again—it’s also a matter of safety. The look is all the more important today as self-driving vehicles drive demand for radar-compliant paint.

Custom powder coat colors appeal to customers by allowing them to create desired hues that personalize their furniture, building accents, cars or other items. What should professionals know to get the best results with their colorful creations? 

Products containing thermochromic pigments change color—sometimes permanently—due to heat exposure. Could these pigments raise awareness of the dangers caused by above-average temperatures? Knowing the basics of how they work could help you decide whether or not to use them.

Many of today’s products must withstand near-constant use or exposure to the weather. Self-healing paints and coatings are still a relatively niche area of study, but it’s easy to see the widespread appeal. This article highlights the abundant practical applications for formulators and companies to explore. 

As coatings industry technology advances, artificial intelligence plays a major role in the various developments. People must use it strategically, and be willing to invest time and effort into their attempts. When that happens, the results are so impressive that they could change the industry forever.

Several coatings industry trends are powering incredible innovations in manufacturing and materials science, from green coatings to self-cleaning coatings and more.

Hiding power is one of paint’s most important attributes. If a paint doesn’t effectively hide the surface beneath it, its color won’t come through as intended and the finish won’t look good. On a more detailed level, the hiding power of pigments within the paint must be enough to cover the solution’s substrate.

Product stewardship and regulatory affairs (PSRA) professionals handle the minimization of all negative environmental impacts, and follow the respective regulations for formulating, manufacturing, and distributing products responsibly. Here are some particular ways paint professionals can promote product stewardship and regulatory compliance within their industry. 

Bio-based coatings encompass a broad product category. They use natural resources such as essential oils, foods, and forest products to perform comparably to those typically derived from fossil fuels. This article discusses bio-based materials in the coatings market and offers insights about future developments. 

As manufacturing becomes more automated or dependent on robotic technologies, people have become more interested in how this progress could improve paint preparation. Options in high-tech mixing and paint-filling equipment are explored in this article.