Clearview National November 2017 - Issue 192 | Page 50

PROUD SPONSOR OF DOORS & WINDOWS
DOORS&WINDOWS
Choosing the right Water
Based Coating System
» » IN THE FENESTRATION INDUSTRY
the demand for PVCu windows and doors is
as high as ever. Matching customer demands
for more personal and unique finishes as
well as complying with environmental and
legislation is a big ask.
Since the introduction of the EU Paints
Directive back in 2010, an increasing number
of water based coating products have appeared
online and on the shelves in trade stores across
the country.
The first question that springs to mind is –
Are all water based coatings the same?
The answer in short is No.
VOC levels have been well documented
over the last 10 years and manufacturers are
required by law to clearly document and label
the VOC content. The scales typically used
in the ‘paint’ market start at Minimal VOC
content (0-0.29%) up to Very High VOC
content (50% or above).
All water based products with VOC content
manufactured in Europe cannot under current
legislation exceed more than 20g of VOC
content per litre of the total volume.
VOC levels vary from manufacturer to
manufacturer, it is also very important to
note that claims of VOC free are incorrect.
‘Paint’ and ‘colour’ is made up of a number
of natural and synthetic components, such as
minerals, natural oils, pigments and additives.
These components all have to undergo some
form of cleansing, refinement, processing and
treatment in order to make up the product.
The production process to do this includes
substances that are classed as VOCs, so
therefore trace elements can still be found
in the finished product, which results that a
statement of VOC free cannot be true.
Another consideration when looking at
water based coating systems is to look for
the NMP (N-Methylpyrrolidone) and NEP
(N-Ethyl-Pyrrolidone) levels.
NMP and NEP are solvents and act as an
adhesion promoter for PVCu as it softens the
surface when t