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The Paints Working Group of the IBRG is one of the oldest of the organisation's Working Groups and is carrying out work in a number of areas:
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| About the Paints Working Group |
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Like many of the working groups within IBRG, the Paints Group is comprised of representatives from the coatings industry, preservative manufacturers, testing institutes and independent testing laboratories and academic institutions. The projects arise from needs within the coatings industry and attempt to encompass both the latest understanding of the technology and to be in line with the most recent legislative requirements. The group is led by members of the coatings industry to ensure relevance and acceptance of the methods the group develops, while ensuring the needs of the preservative industry and regulators are met. Current activities include: Dry-Film Fungal TestingDuring the 1970's and early 1980's, the work of the IBRG Paints Group was focussed on investigations into fungal growth on paint films. From this and extensive ring tests a standard test protocol was developed which has gained wide acceptance in the paint industry and forms the basis of BS3900 Part G6. The method was validated by both laboratory studies and field trials and members of IBRG are providing input into the latest revision of the standard. As a continuation of the work on dry-film fungicides, IBRG is in the latter stages of developing a standard test protocol for the study of algal growth on painted surfaces. Like the current version of BS3900 Part G6, it is a panel test and is intended to help predict the performance of materials in use through the use of a standardised laboratory procedure. The method has been proposed for inclusion in the latest revision of BS3900 Part G6. IBRG has recently completed the development of a standard method for determining the susceptibility of paints to bacterial contamination. The method can be employed to help determine the optimum concentration of in-can preservative required to protect a paint formulation from bacterial spoilage. A summary of the development work was published in The European Coatings Journal in March 2000 and the full method will be published later this year. In support of the Wet-State Test Method, work is in progress to optimise techniques to ensure both the viability and virulence of test strains used in bacterial challenge studies. Wet-State Fungal TestingAs a continuation of the Wet-State Bacterial Test development, the Paints Group has recently been investigating methods to examine fungal growth in liquid paint and related materials. Preliminary studies have focussed on tinters and although initial studies looked at the liquid phase of such systems, work is currently directed at developing methods which can help prevent growth on the dried deposits of tinter which are often present in systems which are used to handle the material. Plant HygieneIt is well recognised that the hygiene of the paint manufacturing plant has a great impact on the microbiological quality of the final product. For this reason, the group has produced a set of guidance documents for the industry which will be published both on this web site and in a range of trade journals and in a number of languages in 2002. Antibacterial CoatingsMembers of the Paints Group are collaborating with the IBRG Plastics Group to develop a range of methods to examine the antibacterial activity of surfaces. A draft procedure for surface coatings has been developed from initial work by the Plastics Group and has been adopted by them for further development for a range of materials. Further Details: Further details of the work of the IBRG Paints Group can be
obtained from the General Secretary of IBRG who is also the Secretary
of the IBRG Paints Working Group:- |