Posted on May 4th, 2018 by Carrier Vibrating
Spring weather means people are cleaning and refreshing their homes, often using a fresh coat of paint to add new color to their walls. In the U.S., over 1.4 billion gallons of paint are sold each year, and that number is expected to rise as housing rates also increase. When all of these cans of paint are opened people expect the color to be vibrant and what they expected, but how do the paint manufacturers go about drying pigments to ensure the paint is the correct color?
At its simplest, paint is made of three components: pigments, a binder, and a liquid solvent. The pigments are what gives the paint its specific color, the binder is what holds it together and helps it stick to the surface, and the liquid solvent is what allows it to be fluid when applied to the surface, and then dries off letting the paint harden.
The pigments are made from a variety of different materials, with white titanium dioxide powder being used for over seventy percent of all pigments. Calcium carbonate is commonly used with titanium dioxide powder to create a matte sheen to the paint. To create colors, black iron oxide, red iron oxide, yellow iron oxide, and zinc oxide are combined in different percentages. Carbon black powder is also used as a pigment in paints to create darker shades.
All of these pigments must be carefully dried and processed into a fine powder before being added to the binder and liquid solvent to create paint, and many of them require a very specific drying temperature to produce the correct color shade and possess the needed properties.
The Carrier Vibrating Equipment Media Slurry Dryer provides a cost-effective and fuel-efficient way to turn a wet slurry of paint pigments into a dried super fine powder without the need for mixing or atomization. The uniform distribution of slurry and compact use of airflow means that the footprint is small while providing large capacities for drying pigment, without the need for a large drying chamber and filter system that a spray dryer requires. The media slurry dryer can also be run continuously and has no delicate nozzles that can become clogged or need cleaning.
Interested in finding out how a Carrier Media Slurry Dryer can improve your drying process? Contact us to learn about our custom solutions.
