How Is Paint Made?

The Basic Composition of Latex Paint

A gallon of freshly mixed paint in your perfect, chosen color can be a beautiful thing. Pop the lid with the can opener, swirl the paint with the wooden stick, and watch the paint slide off of the stick. Silky, rich, and imbued with vibrant color, the paint appears to be a homogeneous substance.

But let that same paint rest for nine months in the basement and it tells a different story, revealing its true structure. On top is a liquid that veers toward clear and bears no resemblance to the representative color dot on the lid. Press the stick to the bottom and you will discover a thick, nearly impenetrable solid mass.

Latex paint, the most widely used paint in homes by do-it-yourself homeowners, is composed of solids and liquids. All paint specifications state how much of the paint is solids or liquids. For example, in one gallon of flat paint, 57 percent of the weight might be devoted to solids. For paint on the other end of the sheen spectrum—semi-gloss—solids’ weight might drop to around 51-percent. Already it is evident how paint’s make-up applies directly to your own walls. If you have ever wondered why flat or matte paint has a chalky texture, it’s because of this: more solids.

Solvents: Vehicle for the Solids

Solvents are the liquid body of the paint, the vehicle that carries and dissolves the other ingredients. Water, often called the universal solvent, is used for latex paints. For oil-based paints, mineral turpentine is often used as the solvent. Solvents are the ingredient that account for paint drying time. For water-based latex paint, all of the water in the paint ends up on your wall, ceiling, or other work surface and must fully evaporate for the paint to cure. This is why humid and cold conditions adversely affect paint drying time and, at worst, cause the paint to fail.

Resins: Paint Binders

If water helps keep the solids in water-based latex paint solvent, it is the resins that bind everything together and help the paint dry after it has been applied to the surface. For many latex paints, these resins come in the form of acrylic emulsion polymers.

Pigments: Color

Pigments give paint its color. Pigments initially come in powdered form. For example, white pigment is titanium dioxide, black pigment is carbon black, and oranges and yellows are derived from metallic salts. At the paint store when you see the color dispersion machine squirting colors into the paint base, those water-borne pigments are called colorants.

Additives: Improving Paint Performance

Additives are a loose collection of other ingredients that supplement the paint, mainly to improve its physical properties. Additives might be added to the paint to smooth out brush strokes, inhibit mold growth, promote faster drying, or help the paint to resist sag. It is also possible for the product user, after purchase of the paint, to introduce additives. Penetrol and Floetrol are the brand names of popular additives that smooth down brush marks.

The Process of Making Paint

Measuring and Portioning

Raw liquid and dry ingredients are portioned out by bulk weight or by volume in calibrated vats, much like measuring out cooking ingredients in measuring cups.

Mill Base Creation

Raw pigments are crushed and dispersed, creating a dry substance called the mill base.

Letting Down

In a process called the let-down, resins, solvents, and additives are prepared in a different vat.

Combining

The mill base and let-down product are combined.

Shipment to Canning Area

Prepared materials arrive at the canning section by truck. Liquid materials are piped into storage silos or tanks and dry materials are brought into the receiving area of a warehouse.

Mixing

Materials are combined in tanks to create the paint.

Labeling

Empty paint cans arrive in the factory and are run through machines that apply labels to them.

Filling

Separate machines fill one-gallon paint cans and five-gallon paint cans.

Palletizing

Cans are sealed up, boxed, and the boxes are placed on pallets for shipment.