Wood Coatings

Wood coatings have both a protective and aesthetic role. They are used in both the DIY and professional market, but are also applied on an industrial scale (ie. trim paints).

For wood coatings, mineral fillers can play a number of roles:

• Abrasion resistance, for example on deck coatings and parquet flooring.
• Chemical resistance, mainly against cleaning liquids.
• Allowing wood varnishes/transparent coatings to keep their clarity since mineral fillers have a similar refractive index as the binder(s).
• Controlling the gloss level by changing the particle size distribution of the mineral filler in use. Even the gloss level of transparent coatings can be adjusted when using the filler with the appropriate refractive index to match the refractive index of the binder.
• Giving the pore and grain-filling properties of sealers more body for smoothing a surface of wood.
• Allowing primers and/or topcoats to be easily sanded by using soft fillers, like talc.
• Good stain blocking and stain resistance for wood coatings used indoors.
• For UV-curing systems, where the mineral fillers do not block the radiation and, as such, the curing mechanism.