paint

Paint – any liquid, liquefiable, or mastic composition which, after application to a substrate in a thin layer, is converted to a solid film. It is most commonly used to protect, color or provide texture to objects.

pigment – a material that changes the color of reflected or transmitted light as the result of wavelength-selective absorption. Pigments are used for coloring paint, ink, plastic, fabric, cosmetics, food and other materials.

• solvent (xylene) based paints, often called stains, linseed oil and mineral spirit base
• water based,
• epoxies

What’s the problem?
Glass-based paint keeps things cool by reflecting sunlight – Whether it’s slides at playgrounds or roofs of houses, there are some things that you just don’t want to heat up in the sun. While painting such surfaces white is one approach, a scientist at Johns Hopkins University has developed another – reflective paint made from glass.

• Ask – Whether it’s slides at playgrounds or roofs of houses, there are some things that you just don’t want to heat up in the sun. Not only does it make them uncomfortable to touch, but it also causes them to age prematurely. Traditional organic polymer-based paints that degrade in the sunlight.
• Imagine – The paint is almost entirely inorganic, which should make it much longer-lasting than traditional paints
• Design, Build – cheap and abundant potassium silicate, a raw ingredient of glass which dissolves in water. Once it’s been sprayed onto a surface and dried, it becomes water-resistant.
• Improve –

Engineering ideas

• liquid, substrate, suspension, mastic, reflect, transmit, absorption, pigment, xylene, epoxy

Learn more…