Painting Terminology
Abrasives
Abrasives are materials used to smooth, clean, or prepare surfaces. Common types of abrasives include sandpaper, steel wool, and blasting media like sand or glass beads. They help remove old paint, rust, or imperfections to ensure better paint adhesion. Proper use of abrasives is essential for achieving a durable, high-quality finish.
Accelerator
An additive that is used to speed up the curing/drying time of paint.
Accent Colour
An accent colour is a contrasting or complementary colour used to enhance the dominant colour in a project’s palette. Among many benefits, accent colours add visual interest, highlight features, and create balance in the overall design.
Acrylic
Acrylic is a versatile material used in both paints and caulking. As a paint, it provides durable, flexible, and fast-drying finishes with vibrant colours. In caulking, it offers a paintable, water-based alternative to silicone, making it ideal for sealing gaps in areas like trim, windows, and baseboards. It adheres well to wood, metal, drywall, and masonry.
Activator
An activator is a substance that kick-starts the curing process, helping the paint or coating to dry and harden properly for a strong, long-lasting finish.
Additive
An additive is a component mixed into formulations to enhance specific qualities like durability, drying speed, resistance to UV rays, or resistance to algae growth. These substances allow coatings to be tailored for different applications and conditions, improving overall performance.
Adhesion
Adhesion is the ability of a paint or coating to bond effectively to a surface. It refers to how strongly the coating attaches to the material beneath, such as wood, metal, or concrete. Good adhesion helps prevent the paint from peeling or wearing away, ensuring long-lasting results.
Adhesion Promoter
An adhesion promoter enhances the bond between a substrate and a coating, like paint or sealant. It can be applied as a separate layer or mixed into paint formulations, particularly for challenging surfaces. This ensures better adhesion and longevity of the topcoat.
Aggressive Environment
An aggressive environment refers to conditions that rapidly degrade unprotected materials. This includes frequent chemical exposures, immersion, marine environments, extreme temperature fluctuations, high humidity, and prolonged UV exposure.
Air Dry
When paint dries by solvents/vehicles evaporating into the air without added heat.
Aluminum Pigments
Finely divided particles of aluminum used in coatings to provide a metallic appearance, improved durability, and reflective properties. These pigments are typically produced through processes like atomization or milling and are incorporated into paints and finishes for corrosion resistance, heat reflectivity and decorative effects.
Architectural Coating
An architectural coating is a paint or finish designed for application on-site to interior or exterior surfaces of buildings. This includes residential, commercial, institutional, and light industrial structures, as opposed to factory-applied coatings.
Atomization
In the paint and coatings industry, atomization refers to the process of breaking down liquid paint into tiny droplets to create a fine mist or spray. This is achieved using high-pressure or compressed air to push the liquid through a nozzle, dispersing it evenly across the surface to be coated. Atomization helps produce a uniform and controlled application of material.
Baking
Baking is the process of using heat to speed up the drying and curing of paint. This is often done in a heated booth or with infrared lamps. Baking helps paint dry faster and become more durable by improving adhesion and hardness, making it more resistant to damage. This method is preferred in professional settings where high-quality and long-lasting finishes are needed.
Bare Substrate
Any material (steel, aluminum, plastic, etc.) which does not have a coating of paint or primer.
Basecoat
A basecoat is a layer of paint or coating applied as a foundation for the final finish. It can provide colour, coverage, or adhesion support and is often coated with a clear coat for added protection, durability or gloss.