Chemistry - What are the chemicals present in paint ?

Sangeetha Pulapaka (last edited 5 years ago) (Expert, Educator @Qalaxia)

Paints are made by mixing and blending three main components:

(a) The pigments

Pigments are finely ground inorganic or organic powders which provide colour, opacity, film cohesion and sometimes corrosion inhibition.

(b) The binder

Binders are usually resins or oils but can be inorganic compounds such as soluble silicates. The binder is the film forming component in the paint.

Solvents are used to dissolve the binder and to facilitate application at the paint. Solvents are usually organic liquids or water.

Many of the traditional pigments used in paints and pastels are compounds that contain heavy metals, including antimony, barium, cadmium, chromium, cobalt, copper, lead, manganese, strontium and zinc These metals are linked to various cancers, as well as diseases of the heart, kidneys, liver, lungs and skin. Concerns about the health risks of the materials they were using grew among artists throughout the 1970s and ‘80s, and in 1988 Congress passed the Labeling of Hazardous Art Materials Act (an amendment to the Federal Hazardous Substances Act), requiring arts and crafts materials manufacturers to identify product ingredients that are known chronic hazards on the label with appropriate hazard warnings. Manufacturers also must provide safety data sheets for these products that offer detailed information on potential health risks, first aidmeasures, flammability, how they should be handled and stored, how they should be disposed of and if they can be safely taken on an airplane.One of those colors is cremnitz white, which contains lead. The paint Cadium red mediumt, contains cadmium which is a chemical known…to cause cancer and birth defects.

Eco-friendly paints available in India can be classified into three types:

Zero-VOC paints: The level of VOCs in these paints is so low that they can be termed as ‘zero-VOC paints’. As per the EPA* standard, the total VOC content should be less than 5 gram per liter of paint.
Low-VOC paints: As specified by the EPA, these paints can have VOC concentrations ranging from 5 to 200 gram per liter of paint.
Natural paints: These paints are made of natural compounds such as tree resins, water, plant oil, essential oil and natural dyes. They do not contain any VOCs. Water-based paints do not have an odor, while oil-based paints have a smell.