Lacquer Thinner, the Thinner for Lacquer Coating

Lacquer thinner is the thinner that is specially designed to thin the lacquer. Lacquer is finishing a material that is dry and forming a hard film layer by evaporation of his thinner. According to this definition, the lacquers are nitrocellulose coating, acrylic clear coat, butyrate clear coat, vinyl material, and the other 1 component coating materials. While the other coatings that are dry film by chemical reactions, such as polyurethane, acid curing, precatalyzed, and polyester, are not included in the lacquer category.

Lacquer thinner is also needed to thin and reduce other finishing materials, such as the base coat, primer, stain, and even putty and filler. Actually, most of finishing material can be solved with lacquer thinner, but lacquer thinner is mostly used to thin the lacquer, paint, and coating because of the price and suitability in application

The main function of the lacquer thinner is to reduce the viscosity of the lacquer so that it can be applied easier. The original lacquer is a viscous material that cannot be applied by spray gun. The spray gun as the main equipment for lacquer application only works well on materials with low viscosity (about 14 second with an NK #2 viscosity cup). The application by brush also cannot give a good layer when the viscosity of the material is too thick.

Instead of reducing the viscosity the lacquer thinner also work to give some specific characters at the mixture. The lacquer thinner is also used to make better flow and adjust the drying time of the lacquer.

Lacquer thinner does not stay at the film result; it will evaporate in the drying process. Lacquer thinner is just a “vehicle” that delivers the lacquer to its destination without forming the film layer. Although it just a vehicle, but the lacquer thinner play important role in the finishing process. Many finishing problems occur because they are caused by inappropriate thinner; on the other hand, there are some modifications that can be done in the lacquer application by selecting and modifying the lacquer thinner.

THe formulation of lacquer thinner

Lacquer thinner is made by a mixture of several solvents. The composition of the lacquer thinner could be varied from one supplier to another. The composition of lacquer thinner is highly dependent on the type and ingredient of lacquer that will be reduced. Since the composition of the lacquer is different from one manufacturer to the other, the composition of the lacquer thinner is also varied from one manufacturer to the others.

Basically, the lacquer thinner is made of three kinds of material: the solvent, latent solvent, and diluent.

• Solvent (active solvent)

Solvent is a main material in the thinner. Solvent solves the lacquer and reduces the viscosity. The material for the solvent depends on the lacquer composition. The solvents for the nitrocellulose lacquer are butyl acetate, acetone, methyl ethyl ketone, and methyl amyl ketone. Those solvents also work well to solve the other lacquers, such as : butyrate, vinyl, and acrylic.

• Latent solvent

Latent solvent is a solvent work to increase the solubility when it is mixed with a solvent. Examples of latent solvent for the lacquer thinner are: isopropyl alcohol and isobuthyl butanol.

• Diluent.

The diluent is the filler for the thinner. It cannot dissolve the lacquer, but he solves and mixes each other with the solvent. This material is added to the lacquer thinner to reduce the price of lacquer thinner.

• Additive materials

Into the lacquer thinner is often added some additive materials to build some specific properties of the lacquer thinner. The additive is added to adjust the properties of the lacquer mix. For example, to make better flow, to adjust the drying time, and for some other specific reasons. A special additive is needed to improve the resistance of the mix at the electrostatic lacquer.

Tips on choosing lacquer thinner

• Use lacquer thinner according to the lacquer materials used.

The mixture of lacquer thinner is specific depending on the ingredients in the lacquer mixture. Meanwhile, the material inside the lacquer is different from one brand to the other. Every supplier has his thinner according to its lacquer. It is recommended to use the lacquer thinner from the same supplier with the lacquer. The thinner should be the best suit since it is already made according the lacquer

• Do some tests and experiments before using the thinner on a large scale.

Sometimes we have to modify the lacquer thinners or make our own composition of lacquer thinner for various reasons. The prices and quality are the reasons why we need to adjust the lacquer thinner. The lacquer thinner from the same lacquer supplier should be the best suit material, but the environmental conditions and the application method force us to modify the lacquer thinner.
When we decide to change the lacquer thinner, we must do some tests first before using it in the large volume application. Mix some material with the thinner and see the results. View the physical properties and looks of mixtures such as the clarity, solubility, and viscosity of the mixture. Then we still need to test it by applying the mixture on some piece of wood panel. See the results, such as the drying time, the flow, the appearance, etc. After we are confident that the mix is ​​working well, then we can start to use the material on a larger scale.