Development of Industrial Automotive Paint with Natural Raw Material Castor Oil as a Substitute of Polymeric Plasticizer

Shambhu Sharan Kumar

Polymeric materials from natural resources have engrossed a set of developmental interests in recent years. The development of low priced automotive paints by the use of caster seed oil which has been introduced as a substitute of polymeric plasticizer materials focusing at this time to the polymer and paint industries due to the massive world wide availability, embedded biodegradability, low cost, and outstanding environmental characteristics (i.e., low toxicity toward human beings). The advantages of these outstanding natural characteristics are now being taken in the fields of research and development. Oil derived polymeric materials and composites are being utilized in many applications including paints, surface coatings, adhesives and nanocomposites. The endeavor of this research paper is likely to provide a basic enlightenment on the castor seed oil applications in polymeric activities with reference to their recent developments. Particular emphasis has been placed on the study and applications of drying oils in almost all low priced decorative and protective surface coatings. For the purpose of extraction of the oil, simple distillation method was used. Paint formulations i.e., the theoretical formulation, milling with calculated constituents to get mill-base, grinding and dispersion of pigment particles, stabilization, let-down and make-up processes were carried out within the laboratory conditions. Different paints were formulated by incorporating the base pigment rutile TiO₂, alkyd resin alongwith other constituents as determined. The compatibility, viscosity, opacity, gloss, adhesion, flexibility and other quality control tests of castor seed oil plasticized automotive paints were carried out as per ASTM/BIS test methods and compared with the testing’s standard of the Berger Paints Limited. The results were found as specific gravity: 0.95± 0.02), refractive index @ 28⁰C: (1.79± 0.01), viscosity @ 28 ^oC: (0.425 ± 0.12), pH: (5.800 ± 0.00), flash point: (256.000± 1.20^oC), adhesion: 100%, gloss: 95-99%, 650 hours passed in salt spray test and 600 hours passed in weathering resistance test; all parameters were within the range of automotive paint applications and quality specifications. Castor-seed-oil has been appraised as an effective plasticizer and film-former in automotive paint formulations. The humidity content of the caster seeds was low, therefore, has been introduced as a material of good quality for the further use in other glossy automotive paint formulations.