Patent ID: 8643830

Claim:
A metallic gloss prediction process comprising: (a) dispensing on a test substrate a L 0 layer of a substantially uniform thickness of a S 0 coating composition containing metallic flakes through a vessel of a metallic gloss prediction device containing said coating composition; (b) projecting on said L 0 layer a beam of light of a preset intensity at a preset angle of incidence from a light source; (c) measuring B 0 reflectance of said beam reflected from said L 0 layer at a preset angle of reflectance by an optical measurement instrument; (d) curing or drying said L 0 layer into a C 0 coating; (e) measuring Y 0 metallic gloss of said C 0 coating at a preset metallic gloss angle by a gloss meter; (f) storing said B 0 reflectance of said L 0 layer and said Y 0 metallic gloss of said C 0 coating in a computer usable storage medium of a computer; (g) repeating said steps (a) through (f) for S 1 to S n coating compositions respectively comprising F 1 to F n parts by weight of one or more flatting agents based on 100 parts by weight of said coating composition to determine B 1 to B n reflectance of L 1 to L n layers and Y 1 to Y in metallic gloss of C 1 to C n coatings wherein n ranges from 4 to 20; (h) locating intersecting points on a graph where said B 0 to B n of said L 0 to L n layers on X-axis of said graph intersect with said Y 0 to Y n metallic gloss of said C 0 to C n coatings on Y-axis of said graph; (i) using a curve fitting equation to produce a metallic gloss prediction curve on said graph; j) dispensing on said test substrate a L T layer of said substantially uniform thickness of a target coating composition through said vessel of said metallic gloss prediction device containing said target coating composition further comprising said flatting agent; (k) projecting on said L T layer a beam of light at said preset intensity and at said preset angle of incidence from said light source; (l) measuring B T reflectance of said beam reflected from said L T layer at said preset angle of reflectance by said optical measurement device; (m) locating said B T of said L T layer on said X-axis of said graph; (n) locating an intersecting point on said metallic gloss prediction curve that intersects with said B T on said X-axis of said graph; and (o) predicting metallic gloss at said preset metallic gloss angle of a target coating resulting from said target layer by locating Y T on said Y-axis of said graph that intersects with said intersecting point on said metallic gloss prediction curve that intersects with said B T on said X-axis of said graph.