Application laboratories perform special tests in order to evaluate application properties of titanium dioxide and iron oxide pigments. The scale of testing is very broad due to the extent of possible application of the pigments. The tests are performed in accordance with ČSN or ISO norms or as required by individual customers.
Equipment:
The application laboratory is equipped with machines for testing pigments for coating materials, manufacturing plastics and fibers, paints used in printing, food industry, paper and other applications. Besides general equipment, we also have Ultra Scan XE, a spectrophotometer that measures gloss, thickness and chalking, Brookfield, a motion viscosity meter, mixing and dispersion equipment and coating equipment. Weathering tests of durability of coatings and plastics are performed in a weather facility equipped with a meteorological station for reading main weather data.
The laboratory's special equipment includes:
QUV panel Q-SUN and Sun test CPS+ for laboratory weather testing.
These machines reproduce sunlight, rain and humidity under laboratory conditions for rapid weather testing of degradation of materials and surface coatings. Exposition testing conditions can be set in accordance with required durability in various natural environments.
QUV enables laboratory simulation of UV radiation with the use of a fluorescent UV lamp. Q-sun and Suntest CPS+ are equipped with xenon tubes reproducing sunlight in the wavelength of 300-800 nm. DSE 20/40 D twin screw laboratory extruder by Brabender, test bath, granulator.
This laboratory line for concentrate preparation enables pigment testing in a plastic matrix. The machine prepares PE and PP concentrate.
Single screw KE 19/25 D extruder by Brabender with an additional filter test enables evaluation of pigment dispersibility in a plastic matrix using a pressure filtration test pursuant to EN 139-005.
UNIVEX is an additional pull and roll machine for preparation of thin foil (PE, PP) for evaluation of optical parameters and pigment dispersibility in plastics.
NOVA 4000-e surface area analyzer
This machine performs analysis of surface area and porosity based on the quantity of adsorbed/resorbed nitrogen. Nitrogen adsorption/desorption measurement on a solid surface is performed by monitoring vapor pressure in relation to the pressure of the environment (p/p0) in the warm part of the cuvette and the amount of liquefied nitrogen (number of nitrogen moles calculated into nitrogen volume) captured on the surface of the solid substance in the cold part of the cuvette. The measurement establishes the relation between nitrogen volume and the relative p/p0 pressure which can be graphically shown in a so-called adsorption/desorption isotherm.
Knowing the volume of the gas present in the adsorbed mono-layer we can calculate the total surface area of the sample using the BET (Brunauer-Emmette-Teller) equation or the Langmuir isotherm. Porosity can be calculated using two models: BJH (Barrett-Joyner-Halenda) and DH (Dollimore-Heal) model. Both methods are based on Kelvin's equation.