March Meeting

The meeting on Tuesday, March 12th (11:30am-1:30pm) will be held at BASF's facility in Shakopee, MN (889 Valley Park Drive, Shakopee, MN 55379 MAP). The technical presentation is titled "Creating Appearance with Pigments & Polymers", and it covers both liquid and powder coatings and will be presented by Dr. Romesh Kumar. The meeting will include lunch which the cost is $18 for members and $20 for non-members if registration is made by Friday, March 8th ($20/$25 if registering later).

Registration for the meeting is through the NWSCT website: Click Here to Register and Pay Online.

OR contact Eric Scholl (ewscholl@hotmail.com) if you plan to attend the meeting but will not be paying via PayPal so that an accurate head count can be provided to the caterer. We look forward to seeing you.

Speaker biography:

Romesh Kumar is Sr. Technical Sales Manager for North America, with Clariant Plastics & Coatings USA, Inc. His expertise include colorants for coatings, color measurement and other related applications. Schooled at Laurentian University (Sudbury, Ontario), and Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (Troy, NY), he has made several presentations about pigment applications, and color measurement at both national and international events during his more than 38 years in the industry. He teaches "Pigments for Coatings" to business professionals in educational programs at University of Southern Mississippi (Hattiesburg), and North Dakota State University (Fargo). He is a member of Inter Society Color Council, and American Coatings Association. His hobbies include biking and hiking with his young grandsons in Massachusetts.

Presentation abstract:

John Deere makes big and small machines which are well known by young and old for their appearance. Every one knows “John Deere Green and Yellow”, the very characteristic shades associated with these machines. At least four sets of pigments and polymers combinations are involved in creating the appealing appearance. Commonly, such machines consists of parts which are powder coated, sprayed with liquid paint, and molded plastics. In addition, after market paint is of different composition, yet all have to arrive at the same appearance.
Pigments and polymers are blended, and processed to create unique appearances in liquid and powder paints. Depending on the application, processing of a specific polymer and pigment combination provides the optimum appearance, and determines the overall performance.
The polymers and pigments have to be compatible to achieve the desired shade. In liquid coatings, polymers are in solution or suspension (in solution with organic solvents for solvent based, and in suspension for water based systems). Each polymer presents a challenge as how to incorporate the pigment to achieve specific appearance. Powder coatings require melting the polymer at 250-400 F, and the pigment introduced by way an extrusion process. In liquid coatings, pigments are introduced by shear forces (media mills or high speed mixers) to achieve optimum color and strength. These properties are key to successful reproduction of appearance in architectural paints, one of the largest consumers of pigments and polymers. For polymers in solution, the resin must be stable to weathering, and pigments resistance to both weather and solvents in the paint system.
Understanding the polymers and pigments is very critical to achieve the optimum appearance over and again, in both plastics and paint industry. At the end, only a handful of pigments and polymers are suitable to arrive at the required appearance with desired properties. Otherwise, product failure and metamersim can doom the business very quickly.

The Future:

Tuesday, April 9th:
Education Symposium at Sherwin Williams in Minneapolis, MN.

Wednesday, May 1st:
Scholarship application deadline.

Spring Outing, May:
TBD

Thursday, June 27th:
Troy Burne Golf Club, Hudson, WI. Annual Spring Golf Outing.

Wednesday, August 28th:
The Wilds Golf Club, Prior Lake, MN. Annual Fall Golf Outing.