'Cold Temperature Effects of Modern Paints Used for Priming Flexible Supports'

This paper reports on the experimental results from an investigation into the cold temperature effects of modern paints used by artists for priming flexible supports. The experiments performed were measurement of the glass transition temperature (T g) using dynamic thermal mechanical analysis (DTMA) and uniaxial tensile testing to measure stiffness, ultimate tensile strength (UTS) and strain to failure. The composition of each primer was confirmed by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR). Results show that there is a large variation in T g , stiffness, UTS and strain to failure for both alkyd and acrylic paint primers, and that the ranges in their properties overlap. Artists' alkyd primers, recommended for flexible supports, are susceptible to brittle fracture at 10 °C. Some of the acrylic primers are susceptible to brittle fracture at 0 °C. The results show that it is possible, for the tested primers, to relate T g to a practical temperature safety margin based on the change in mechanical behaviour from ductile to brittle within the glass transition region.