Patent ID: 8760660

Claim:
A process for predicting amount of coarse flakes in a target coating composition comprising: (a) adding to a vessel of a flake prediction device a S 0 coating composition comprising F 0 parts by weight of said coarse flakes based on 100 parts by weight of said S 0 coating composition; (b) dispensing from an opening in said vessel said S 0 coating composition over a test substrate to produce a L 0 layer of a substantially uniform thickness thereon; (c) projecting on said L 0 layer a beam of light of a preset intensity at a preset angle of incidence from a light source; (d) measuring B 0 flop of said beam reflected from said L 0 layer at a preset angle of reflectance by an optical measurement instrument; (e) storing said B 0 flop of said L 0 layer in a computer usable storage medium of a computer; (f) 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 said coarse flakes based on 100 parts by weight of said S 1 to S n coating compositions to determine B 1 to B n flops of L 1 to L n layers wherein n ranges from 1 to 100; (g) locating intersecting points on a graph where said B 0 to B n flops of said L 0 to L n layers on X-axis of said graph intersect with said F 0 to F n parts by weight of said coarse flakes on Y-axis of said graph; (h) using a curve fitting equation to produce a flake amount prediction curve on said graph; (i) dispensing on said test substrate a L T layer of said substantially uniform thickness of said target coating composition from said vessel wherein said target coating composition contains said coarse flakes; (j) 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; (k) measuring B T flop of said beam reflected from said L T layer at said preset angle of reflectance by said optical measurement device; (l) locating said B T flop of said L T layer on said X-axis of said graph; (n) locating an intersecting point on said flake amount prediction curve that intersects with said B T flop on said X-axis of said graph; and (p) predicting amount of said coarse flakes contained in said target composition by locating Y T on said Y-axis of said graph that intersects with said intersecting point on said flake amount prediction curve that intersects with said B T on said X-axis of said graph.