What’s happening to a paint when it “cures” after drying?
In: Chemistry
Most house paint these days isn’t just pigment in a liquid: it’s a polymer. Basically like a wet plastic. When it cures, it hardens and goes from liquid to a solid. This allows it to generally be a little waterproof/resistant, stain resistant, and it has some elasticity to prevent scuffs and some marking from being permanent.
When paint dries, it forms a layer of solid material on the surface it’s applied to. During the curing process, this layer undergoes chemical changes, such as polymerization or oxidation, depending on the type of paint. These changes make the paint film harder, more durable, and resistant to things like water, scratches, and fading. So basically, curing is when the paint fully sets and becomes tough and long-lasting.
Paints contain molecules that are like chains. When paint dries those chains get tangled together and in some cases the chains connect to each other forming an even longer chains. As it dries the chains get more and more tangled and make more connections to each other which forms a big network of chains which won’t come apart easily.
Latest Answers