Science at Work Research . Dulux Paints, a Hospital, a leisure centre and a GPs surgery.

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Jaymie – Lee Howard        Page         27/03/2012

For this project I have sent a letter to each company, I have emailed 1  of the companies and visited 2 of the companies in order to help me with my research. Although not all companies gave me the relevant information, I also used the internet to help me fill in the missing gaps.    

                                      Production Organisations

The only product organisation I have chosen to do is Dulux. Dulux is a paint company.

Dulux Customer Care Centre
ICI Paints
Wexham Road
Slough
SL2 5DS

Tel: 08444 817 817

Dulux produce a wide range of different paints and products both interior and exterior to help you paint. Here are a few examples of what products they make.

 Paint

Paint is any liquid liquefiable or mastic composition which after application to a substrate in a thin layer is converted to a solid film.

Products made for interior:

Paint pod: Paintpod roller system, Paintpod matt emulsion, Paintpod silk emulsion, Paintpod 2m extension tube, Paintpod extra reach handle, Paintpod roller sleeve, Paintpod dip tube, Paintpod edging brush, Paintpod spare parts Main Range: Matt, Natural hints matt, Feature wall matt, Soft sheen, Solid emulsions matt, Solid emulsions silk, Non-drip gloss, Satin wood, Professional liquid gloss, Pure brilliant white eggshell, Quick dry gloss, Quick dry satin wood, Tile paint, Cupboard paint. Exterior products:

Products made for exterior:

Main range: non-drip gloss, professional liquid gloss. Once: Gloss. Weathersheild: smooth masonry paint, textured masonry paint, ready to roll smooth masonry paint, exterior gloss, exterior satin, exterior one coat gloss, exterior undercoat, exterior stablishing primer, multi-surface fungicidal wash, exterior preservative primer.

What Science is involved?

Paint is manufactured with mineral fillers (clay and limestone) and pigments from various minerals.  Paint contains four basic ingredients pigments, resin solvents and additives.

Each has a different purpose. The pigment is for colour, resin is a binder, the solvent carries the pigment and resin from the paintbrush to the wall, the additive is added to change or improve its characteristics, in paint it is added to help the paint stick better.

Making the paste:

Pigment manufacturers send bags of pigments to the paint factory where it is them premixed with the resin, the solvent and additives to form a paste.

Dispersing the pigment:

The paste mixture is then routed to a sand mill (shown below) this agitates tiny particles of sand to grind the pigment particles to make them smaller then dispersing them throughout the mixture. The mixture will then be filtered to remove the sand particles.

Although not all paint company’s use a sand mill, instead they may be used in a high speed dispersion tank. (Shown below) here the premixed paste is subjected to high speed agitation by a circular toothed blade attached to the rotating shaft. Using this process will blend the pigments into the solvent

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Thinning the paste:

No matter how it is dispersed whether by sand mill or dispersion tank the paste must be thinned to produce the final product. The paste is transferred to a large kettle where it is agitated with the right amount of solvent to match the paint desired.

Canning the paint:

The paint is then pumped into the canning room. Empty cans are rolled horizontally onto labels the set upright for the paint to be pumped into them. A machine will then place the lids onto the filled cans and a second machine will press the lid ...

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