Paints contain a variety of components including pigments, fillers, binders, solvents, and additives, each having a particular function within the product. Due to the complex nature, the multiple components and the high viscosity of most paint formulations, there are a number of challenges for most analytical techniques used for paint analysis that often limits the technique to partial analysis, such as solvent analysis by GC or GC-MS.
This application note demonstrates how a combination of two techniques - thermogravimetric analysis and infrared spectroscopy using the EGA 4000 is an effective way to identify the components present in each of the different paint formulations.