COLORAMA
These are the sales outlets of Knuchel Farben AG throughout Switzerland. Here you can find out more about the range of services and opening hours.
Eclatin
Subsidiary specialized in high quality painting and coating systems for industry, steel and hydraulic engineering as well as in many special fields.
RUBApaint
Knuchel Farben AG's well-known brand for building protection products. Serves as a secondary brand, where an independent appearance should be possible.

Simple technical terms used in the colloquial language of paints and varnishes

Absorb

Suck it up, swallow it, absorb it. I can rule out the opposite.

Inorganic pigments

Chemical, belonging to inanimate nature

Blooming


Crystallization of salts, e.g. sodium sulfate, calcium nitrate (masonry nitrate), on damp masonry and plaster surfaces when the moisture evaporates. The paints are removed from the substrate.

Block resistance

Tack-free (hardness) of the film at all temperatures.

Bleeding

Penetration of a paint from the lower layers of paint or varnish into the upper layer.

Thickening

Increase in viscosity (consistency).

Elasticity

 

Stretchability of a coating (without cracking).

Solid content

Is the non-volatile fraction of a liquid coating material (expressed as a percentage) that remains as a residue after drying.

Flash point

Is the temperature at which sufficient solvent vapours are produced to sustain a flame (i.e. below the flash point a flame extinguishes by itself). The flash point thus indicates the degree of fire hazard of liquids.

Gloss level

The gloss is given in percent (mirror = 100 %). A distinction is made between gloss at 85°, at 60° and at 20°. The gloss at 20° is also called «Sheen». The value at 60° is decisive for the indication of the degree of gloss: high gloss 90–100 %, silk gloss 60–70 % and silk matt 30–40 %.

Homogeneous

Uniform

Consistency

Colloquial term for viscosity ( = flow properties of a liquid; e.g. thick, thin).

Corrosion

Destruction of metals by oxidation (environmental influences, e.g. rust formation in iron).

Open time

Indicates the period of time during which an applied paint can still run.

Organic pigments

Synthetic dyes based on carbon, nitrogen and oxygen compounds.

Siccatives

Drying agents (metal salts) which are added in small quantities to oxidatively drying paints to accelerate their drying.

Thermoplastic

Paint film reacts to heat (softer at higher temperatures).

Thixotropy

This refers to the property of solidifying when standing and liquefying again during processing.

Pot life

Indicates the time during which a mixed 2-component lacquer can still be processed.

Under-rusting

Rust formation under the coating film

Viscosity

Indicates the fluidity of a liquid (high viscosity = viscous, low viscosity = thin). The viscosity is usually given in mPas, poise or DIN seconds.