Talking Color
What’s Available in Architectural Coatings
The coating industry is constantly refining and adding offerings to their product lines.
Lights and Brights—Colors That Work Within Warranties
In architectural building components, the chemical resistance of the pigment is crucial. This sometimes restricts color spaces that can be achieved, as no matter how well a coating is made, certain colors are more affected by the outside environment than others. For example, bright colors such as yellows, oranges and reds will fade faster.
Color warranties are based on the percentage of organic vs. inorganic pigments used to create the final color. Typically, standard warranties cover film integrity, chalk, fade of a coating, and gloss retention. Loss of film integrity, chalking, color fading and gloss retention are primarily the result of a breakdown of the resin system, and as the resin system degrades the coating surface gets rougher and gloss decreases and the pigment particles in the coating become exposed and more easily removed through natural processes. The use of a clear topcoat will improve the durability of any coating, whether “borderline” bright colors or otherwise. A manufacturer's color technicians, however, are challenged to select affordable pigments for coatings required for durable applications. High durability requirements limit color space and warranty options.
Photo courtesy of Valspar
The use of a topcoat will improve the durability of any coating
Pearlescents
Many designers often seek a metallic look for their colors. Pearlescent or nacreous coatings or pigments possess optical effects that serve decorative purposes, offering eye-catching luster and color effects. With micas and metallics, there is a visual appearance factor that is not seen in solid colors. Creating this look adds several other elements into the process because it actually involves tiny flakes of reflective metal or refractive mica pigments added into the paint mix. Their unique effect is achieved by light interference rather than light absorption. Pearselscent pigments are produced by placing a metal oxide layer on a mica platelet, with color and luster effects controlled by the coating thickness and the mica particle sizes.
In addition, manufacturers are now offering coatings in rich, pearlescent colors that appear to shift in color when viewed from different angles or sunlight. Whether an effect or pearlescent pigment, these coatings function according to the same principal. The pigment has a core material, which could be mica (either natural or synthetic) or a silica with a pigment (usually an iron oxide, titanium dioxide combination precipated on the surface). Both the change in color and the degree of color change is controlled by the composition and thickness of the core and the precipitated pigment.
The color shifting paint is applied in a three-coat system; the colors consist of a primer, basecoat (to enrich color) and pearlescent mica coat with mica flakes or combinations of mica and aluminum flake. The color shift paint is available for both extrusion and coil products. The color is controlled not only by the topcoat and pearlescent mica coating, but also by basecoat. It is the mica flakes that create the consistent, iridescent gradient look. The basecoat consists of ceramic and inorganic pigments. The pigments are best suited for long-life external use on monumental high-rise structures and pre-engineered buildings, including architectural and residential metal roofing systems, composite and insulated metal wall panel systems, and metal roofing and wall panels systems. Many such pigments are available in a range of gradient pearlescent colors from white to silver and can be ideal for architects interested in achieving effects from a silvery color with a hint of a distinctive quality to a dramatic glittering aesthetic. Typically, these paints carry advanced weathering protection.
Florida’s Dramatic Exploration Tower A Launch for New Color-Changing Paint
The public has come to associate the name “Canaveral” with exciting new ventures, and its newly opened Exploration Tower is no exception, right down to the paint on its façade.
With its shimmering, iridescent exterior, Exploration Tower at Port Canaveral beckons visitors with its unique appearance as its color changes in different light and at different angle. Opened in November 2013, the Port's iconic welcome center showcases the first use of a color shift mica coating as spray-applied to metal wall panels. An integral part of Florida's Space Coast and Canaveral Cove's revitalization, Exploration Tower is owned by Canaveral Port Authority. Its opening coincided with the Port's 60th anniversary of its establishment and the 500th anniversary of Ponce de Leon's landing on Florida's east coast.
Taking its cues from the shapes and hues of the port, GWWO Inc./Architects designed the $23 million, seven-story, sail-shaped structure to express the common characteristics of “transience, function and imagery.” The building's southern elevation soars from the water to the sky. It narrows in scale and reduces its exterior coverage until only the steel frame remains to outline the curvature and comes together at a peak 60-feet above the main roof level.
The architects elaborate, “The building's dynamic form and features—sun louvers, exposed structure and iridescent skin—contribute to a constant sense of movement as the sun plays across the structure, meet functional needs, and evoke imagery of the Port and [Brevard] County. A rocket ready to launch, a surfboard in the sand, a ship's hull, a rocket contrail; all can be seen in the structure's striking presence.”
Some 42 pre-fabricated structural panelized units were as sub-structure for the cladding, with the largest being 36 feet by10 feet. GWWO selected a blue pearl color-changing paint to capture the themes of revitalization and change it sought to represent for the Port Canaveral area. Along with its unique appearance, the finish must withstand Florida's hurricane wind speeds, unrelenting sun and salt spray. The paint offers all the advanced protection of a 70 percent PVDF product family in rich, pearlescent pigments that shift in color when viewed from different angles. As with other 70 percent PVDF resin-based coatings, this paint meets the most stringent, exterior, architectural specification, American Architectural Manufacturers Association's AAMA-2605. This specification requires paint coatings to meet rigorous testing performance standards, including more than 2,000 hours of cyclic corrosion per ASTM G85 annex 5, and heat- and humidity-resistance. Per AAMA-2605, the coating also must maintain its film integrity, color retention, chalk resistance, gloss retention, and erosion resistance properties for a minimum of 10 years on the South Florida testing site.
Applied in a three-coat system, the painting solution consisted of a primer, basecoat and color shift coat. In addition, a clear top coat was applied for enhanced durability. “When creating a unique design that requires a vibrant color scheme, the paint was a good choice as it is a multicolored system that uses mica pigments to create a consistent, iridescent look; the coating utilizes a blend of ceramic and inorganic pigments, creating a look that is simultaneously brilliant and subtle “No one has sprayed this before,” said Linetec's paint plant manager Paul Bratz. “There was some trial and error during the process. It was critical that each paint run maintained the same parameters. The spray conditions, paint prep and application consistency of the paint itself were all critical. The slightest change could alter the look of the paint.”
To ensure consistency and minimize variation, Linetec modified its existing paint protocol process. Bratz explains, “The amount of paint needed for the entire project was determined and ordered as a single batch at the beginning of the project. The paint company prepared the special mica technology paint all at one time with excellent consistency, taking out the variable of multiple paint batches.”
In addition to the variable color paint on the southern seaside elevation, a white finish was applied to the northern elevation's aluminum-framed curtain wall offering views of the bustling port. The entire project was painted in four phases, starting in March 2013 and ending in May.
Photo by Rip Noel Studios
At Exploration Tower, a blue pearl color-changing paint captures the themes of revitalization and change characteristic of the Port Canaveral area.
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