Robbyrockett2
Air-Valve Autobot!
So I was confused about this for a very long time and so are most people. There is a lot of misinformation out there. Most of the confusion comes from simply referring to paint types by one word in their long list of classifications, often over a long period of time because a specific type of paint dominates. So I thought I'd clear this up a bit.
Acrylic- Acrylic simply means that the paint has an acrylic polymer resin binder, nothing more. This is the most commonly mis-understood term in paint. A lot of times people take this to mean water based, that's simply not true. Almost all paints you will use are acrylics.
Lacquer- Lacquer paint simply dries, it remains soluble in its original carrier.
Enamel- Enamels are any paints that have a chemical reaction and cure which makes them far less soluble in their original solvent. Usually with their environment and sometimes requiring a catalyst.
Epoxy- Technically an enamel type, in that it has a chemical reaction, though this is usually entirely self sustained and needs no chemicals from the environment.
Solvent based- We usually mean a VOC based paint when we say solvent, though technically water is a solvent too.
Water based/ Waterbourne - The difference here is that water based paint uses water as the vast,vast majority of its solvent if not all. Waterbourne uses water as a carrier but its true solvent is some sort of VOC.
Many other terms are actually specifics. Urethane , (Vinyl,PVA, styrene These are usually the "latex" or "emulsion" in house paints) Nitro, epoxy,
So for some examples
Standard createx- Technically a waterbourne acrylic enamel
Wicked color- Technically a waterbourne acrylic enamel
These two blur the line because the crrier (water) is not really the solvent (butyl ether) that allows the acrylic to cross link
Etac Efx- A waterbased acrylic weak lacquer ( possibly a tempera, which uses little to no binder, which would make it not even an acrylic if it uses no binder)
Most Modern 2k automotive paint- a chemically catalyzed acrylic urethane enamel (has acrylic and urethane binder)
Old 2 pak paint- Catalyzed acrylic enamel
2k polyester - A chemically catalyzed polyester enamel (essentially gel coat sans styrene)
single stage urethane- usually an acrylic urethane enamel
Older automotive oil enamel paint and industrial paints- Acrylic alkyd enamel (commonly just called enamel)
Automotive lacquer- Acrylic lacquer VOC based
Standard polyurethane- polyurethane lacquer
Nitro lacquer- Often simply called lacquer is one non acrylic product still in use. (minwax lacquer)
Artist acrylics sort of blur the line- They oxidize with air in the environment so they do chemically react, but they are very slow to do so and build water resistance over time, But are never highly "waterproof"
I think technically most are actually an enamel.
Hopefully this gives some people a better understanding of why there are
Water based acrylics
Acrylic lacquers of all sorts of bases
Acrylic enamels of all sorts of bases and reaction methods
"water based polyurethane" which is really waterbourne
Vitreous enamel which is the old enameled jewelry and such (its an enamel because it chemically reacts at very high temperatures)
1k urethanes
Hopefully this is helpful. I believe I got most of this right, could be a couple that are off.
Acrylic- Acrylic simply means that the paint has an acrylic polymer resin binder, nothing more. This is the most commonly mis-understood term in paint. A lot of times people take this to mean water based, that's simply not true. Almost all paints you will use are acrylics.
Lacquer- Lacquer paint simply dries, it remains soluble in its original carrier.
Enamel- Enamels are any paints that have a chemical reaction and cure which makes them far less soluble in their original solvent. Usually with their environment and sometimes requiring a catalyst.
Epoxy- Technically an enamel type, in that it has a chemical reaction, though this is usually entirely self sustained and needs no chemicals from the environment.
Solvent based- We usually mean a VOC based paint when we say solvent, though technically water is a solvent too.
Water based/ Waterbourne - The difference here is that water based paint uses water as the vast,vast majority of its solvent if not all. Waterbourne uses water as a carrier but its true solvent is some sort of VOC.
Many other terms are actually specifics. Urethane , (Vinyl,PVA, styrene These are usually the "latex" or "emulsion" in house paints) Nitro, epoxy,
So for some examples
Standard createx- Technically a waterbourne acrylic enamel
Wicked color- Technically a waterbourne acrylic enamel
These two blur the line because the crrier (water) is not really the solvent (butyl ether) that allows the acrylic to cross link
Etac Efx- A waterbased acrylic weak lacquer ( possibly a tempera, which uses little to no binder, which would make it not even an acrylic if it uses no binder)
Most Modern 2k automotive paint- a chemically catalyzed acrylic urethane enamel (has acrylic and urethane binder)
Old 2 pak paint- Catalyzed acrylic enamel
2k polyester - A chemically catalyzed polyester enamel (essentially gel coat sans styrene)
single stage urethane- usually an acrylic urethane enamel
Older automotive oil enamel paint and industrial paints- Acrylic alkyd enamel (commonly just called enamel)
Automotive lacquer- Acrylic lacquer VOC based
Standard polyurethane- polyurethane lacquer
Nitro lacquer- Often simply called lacquer is one non acrylic product still in use. (minwax lacquer)
Artist acrylics sort of blur the line- They oxidize with air in the environment so they do chemically react, but they are very slow to do so and build water resistance over time, But are never highly "waterproof"
I think technically most are actually an enamel.
Hopefully this gives some people a better understanding of why there are
Water based acrylics
Acrylic lacquers of all sorts of bases
Acrylic enamels of all sorts of bases and reaction methods
"water based polyurethane" which is really waterbourne
Vitreous enamel which is the old enameled jewelry and such (its an enamel because it chemically reacts at very high temperatures)
1k urethanes
Hopefully this is helpful. I believe I got most of this right, could be a couple that are off.
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