The leveling of thermosetting waterborne coatings. Part IV: Effects of film thickness

The influence of film thickness on the leveling of a thermosetting waterborne coating (WBC) was examined. The theory of Patton has been revised to give the proper force balance and modified to include the changes in surface tension and viscosity during leveling by the evaporation of volatile components. However, the predicted leveling process by a numerical method did not coincide with the observed results. Thus, the driving force in the theory, the hydrostatic pressure gradient in the film, was considered to be insufficient to describe the leveling process of the WBC. The hydrostatic pressure gradient can be a component of the driving force to promote leveling, but the existence of an additional component is suggested.