For CAB-containing base coats I would suggest DISPERBYK®-2000 / DISPERBYK®-2001 for organic pigments. In case of non CAB-containing systems, the usage of our new DISPERBYK®-2155 is recommended for base coats and also for top coats. For further trials, DISPERBYK®-162 can also be used in 2K top coat systems. For inorganic pigments it is necessary to use about 7-10 solids on pigments solids, for organic pigments the amount can be up to 40 and more (70-90 for carbon black). If you start to calculate on your system, please keep in mind to use the right amount of additive depending on the pigments you use; if co-grinding, calculate a little bit higher. On the other hand, it might be possible that you get some reaction foam bubbles in your last layer, due to the temperature which is given to cure the 3 layers. In that case reduce the accelerator and use 1-3 Byketol special on total formulation.
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This issue you're describing seems to be more related to the metallic pigments than anything else. Due to the fact that the paint is constantly pumped round circulation systems, high shear force arises in critical pump systems. These can damage the metallic pigments. If this is definitely your issue, you need to use special aluminum pigments, so-called non-degrading flakes (NDF) which have been developed for particularly aggressive circulation lines from the ECKART company. Sometimes it is only a matter of aluminum flake orientation, which could be solved by the addition of some wax dispersion to achieve an even formation of the aluminum flakes during the application process. Then the incorporation of e.g.CERAFAK® 103 or CERAFAK® 106 is quite helpful.
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Generally speaking, you could choose one of the following additives for this issue. If you're talking about a solvent-based system, which I presume you are, you can try either our DISPERBYK®-162 and/or DISPERBYK®-110 at a dosage between 2.0-2.5 (solid on pigment). Another important thing is the orientation of the aluminum flakes to achieve a uniform appearance (avoiding cloudiness). For this, we could propose the following additives: CERAFAK®-103, CERAFAK®-106, CERAFAK®-110, CERATIX®-8461, CERATIX®-8483 or CERATIX®-8466. If you're talking about water-based systems, our recommendation is our DISPERBYK®-180 and/or DISPERBYK®-192 and, for the orientation, our AQUATIX®-8421.
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Due to limited information on your part, I can only give you some general recommendations. Generally speaking, for solvent-based systems you can use our products DISPERBYK®-162 or DISPERBYK®-110. DISPERBYK®-162 is normally the better choice for aluminum pigments. However, for some grades of aluminum, DISPERBYK®-110 is the way to go. For pearlescent pigments, in most cases DISPERBYK®-110 is the first choice, followed by DISPERBYK®-162. Dosage should be around 2-2.5 (solid on pigment) for aluminum, and 1.5-3 (solid on pigment) for pearlescent ones. For water-based systems, our suggestion is DISPERBYK®-190, DISPERBYK®-192 or DISPERBYK®-180, depending on the pigments. The amount of usage should be between 2-5 (solid on solid pigment) for aluminum, and around 5 (solid on solid pigment) for pearlescent pigments.
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For improved sag resistance in the system you mention, you could try the following products: BYK®-410, BYK®-430, BYK®-431. BYK®-410 is a solution of a modified urea which gives you thixotropic flow behavior to your system which is sometimes not so effective for sag resistance due to slower structure recovery. BYK®-410 performs best in systems with medium polarity. It is not suitable for non-polar binder systems which exclusively contain aromatic and aliphatic hydrocarbons as solvents. BYK®-410 contains some percentage of NMP which can be eliminated by using BYK®-E 410 (NMP-free). BYK®-430 (solution of a high molecular urea modified medium-polar polyamide) and BYK®-431 (solution of a high molecular urea modified non-polar polyamide) give you pseudoplastic flow behavior, fast viscosity recovery after application, and outstanding anti-sagging properties. However, the thickening effect always depends on the polarity of the solvents, therefore I recommend doing trials with all of the proposed additives and keeping the balance between sag resistance and leveling.
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Are you talking about solvent-borne or aqueous systems? Good defoamers for solvent-borne systems are BYK®-066 N and BYK®-054. In an aqueous system, you can try BYK®-028, BYK®-011 or BYK®-093. For a stable curtain, we recommend 0.05 BYK®-307 for both water and solvent.
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Normally, the DISPERBYK®-163 is a useful additive for this pigment. In the case that you talk about a CAB-containing system, you may be better to try using DISPERBYK®-2000 or DISPERBYK®-2001. To achieve lower mill base viscosity, it is better to add 3-5 n-Butanol into the mill base. The recommended additive dosage is 15 additive solid on pigment.
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Thank you for your request. We recommend the combination of two thix agents: fumed silica (such as Aerosil 200) and a derivate of castor oil (such as Luvitix R-RF). By using our wetting and dispersing additive BYK®-W 969 (1 based on filler), you can increase the filler load (depending on your system, 10 to 15) and the result is a very smooth putty formulation without any settling or sagging problems.
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Try DISPERBYK®-190 and DISPERBYK®-191 first. I recommend using 20-30 of active substance of the wetting and dispersing additive calculated on phthalocyanine pigment. I would like to remind you that DISPERBYK®-190 has 40 solids which means it is an active substance, and DISPERBYK®-191 has 100.
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To improve scratch resistance, try our NANOBYK®-3610 and NANOBYK®-3650. Please test these with and without a silicone-based additive such asBYK®-331. I cannot forecast whether a combination with CERAFLOUR® 996 will give better results, but I think you should try.

To improve wetting, we recommend that you use "active" silicones which greatly reduce surface tension, such as BYK®-306. But if the surface tension is too low, a negative influence on flow (short wave, orange peel) and foam is visible. That means we have to figure out if the poor appearance of the entire system is caused by insufficient substrate wetting or an over-dose of active silicone. I guess you already have tried different dosages of BYK®-306? However, if BYK®-306 is not strong enough to give a good substrate wetting, try BYK®-340 or BYK®-341 (fluoro-modified additives). They will greatly reduce surface tension.
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As wetting agent for metallic flakes in slurries for solvent-based PU coating, you can try DISPERBYK®-110, DISPERBYK®-162, BYK®-P 104 S with 3% of the additive calculated on metallic. Take the metallic slurry, put under a mixer, and put in the wetting and dispersing additive. Thin down with solvent before mixing the slurry in the clear coat. If this slurry is stored longer, you have to put in an anti-sedimentation additive such as BYK®-410. Check the compatability in the mixture. Also a combination of a silicone and wax additive will optimize the orientation of the aluminum flakes in the final paint. As a silicone, you can try BYK®-333 or others, as a wax CERAFAK® 100, CERAFAK® 127 N or others. We have not tested yet if these wetting and dispersing additives can also work with metallic flakes in powder form. We are constantly working with slurries.
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Please try DISPERBYK®-2001 for Irgazine red and Cinquasia violet (calculation: 25% solid additive on pigment). Depending upon the TiO2 that you use, either DISPERBYK®-110 (for basic treated TiO2) or DISPERBYK®-180 (for acidic treated TiO2) is the best choice (1.5% solid additive on TiO2). If this is a co-grind (grinding all pigments together), calculate for each individual pigment and add the amount of wetting and dispersing additive accordingly.
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The temperature of clear coat and additive has a strong influence on the efficiency of incorporation, which again can cause severe surface disease. Higher temperature improves incorporation and lower temperature leads to a less homogenous distribution of the additive in the clear coat. Obviously, BYK®-320 is on the borderline of compatibility in your system, so that an insufficient incorporation shows craters / fisheyes. This effect should be reversible by warming up the clear coat and stirring for a certain time. For the future it is recommended to pre-dilute BYK®-320 with solvent to improve incorporation. Please contact me again, if this effect is not reversible.
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The phenomenon that you are describing is very well known in the base coat area. CAB often causes a problem, even so the pigments are well stabilized. There are two major points that you have to take care of: the pigment stabilization itself. For Irgazin Blue, I would recommend using 15% DISPERBYK®-110 (solid additive on pigment), for Violet I, would recommend that you use 25% of DISPERBYK®-2000 or DISPERBYK®-2001. Unfortunately I cannot tell you which one will be the better choice, since this is very system-dependant. I would try DISPERBYK®-2001 first. All three additives mentioned provide a better stability when CAB is added. Secondly, make sure that the CAB solution is added under higher shear forces (high-speed dissolver). A low incorporation speed (i.e. by stirrer) is often the reason for a reflocculation. A higher viscosity of the pigment concentrate before addition of CAB also helps to create higher shear forces. These suggestions should give you the results you are looking for.
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Unfortunately it is not totally clear based upon your comments whether it is a pigmented system or a clear coat. Poor flow and leveling often leads to gloss reduction. Assuming it is a clear coat, you should check whether all the components used in your formulation are compatible with each other (a good indication is checking haze of the dried film in a tin can). If this is the case, please try 0.05% of BYK®-306 in combination with 0.5% BYK®-358 N. If it is a pigmented system, a wetting and dispersing additive will help: For inorganic pigments please use DISPERBYK®-110, for organic pigments use DISPERBYK®-161.
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We recommend the use of DISPERBYK®-2000, DISPERBYK®-2001 and DISPERBYK®-161.
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As an anti-settling additive for epoxy resin systems, I would recommend our rheology modifier BYK®-410, assuming it is a solvent-based one. You could choose either our BYK®-410 (which contains NMP) or the NEP version BYK®-E 410. The thixotropic flow behavior of both products prevents settling. Further options are a certain amount of controlled flocculating additives such as BYK®-P 104 S or ANTI-TERRRA®-204. As to waterborne systems, you could choose either our BYK®-420 or BYK®-E 420 (containing NEP). Sometimes BYK®-425 helps here as well. Then, as mentioned for the solvent-borne systems, you could use some controlled flocculating additives too (for instance DISPERBYK®).
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