The leveling of thermosetting waterborne coatings .3. Leveling under controlled conditions

Experiments on coated films of waterborne coatings (WBC) under controlled conditions (i.e., 25 degrees C, 65% RH) were carried out to study the mechanism of leveling. Data in a companion paper imply that the development of the surface tension gradients plays an important role in promoting leveling. The stress due to surface tension gradients is found to be much greater than the stress introduced by hydrostatic pressure gradients in the film caused by surface tension and the free boundary curvature of the film. This reconfirms that the use of a co-solvent, which evaporates faster than water, greatly accelerates the leveling of a WBC.