ARTICLES

Replacing costly TiO2 in paint remains a hot topic in these times of continuing price increases and shortages. I was wondering how we could give our paint customers a Shortcut to get instant TiO2 savings, with minimal risk and no loss of paint quality? So we condensed...

The topic on everyone's mind right now is cost savings. Whether you're a housewife trying to feed the family, or someone running a paint factory. We are all looking for ways to save money. So here's a tip for you. I call it UPSIZING.  As you know a mineral like...

Grumble, grumble, grumble…. that’s what we at Serina tend to do about the fact that our  kaolin has a “high” viscosity, relative to some other fillers – especially at high percentage solids. Try to make even a 50% solids solution and you can virtually stand your...

Anyone with anything to do with Health and Safety issues in their factory has probably come across this term, SILICOSIS. But what actually is silicosis, and should I be worried about it?  Silicosis is a disease of the lungs caused by prolonged inhalation of fine...

The other day I was sitting with a customer who said, "I like using kaolin, but it has a high Oil Absorption". What is this Oil Absorption thing, and why is it important? Simply put, the Oil Absorption tells you how much resin or polymer the mineral absorbs,...

Kaolin and calcium carbonate are both used as fillers or extenders, in other words they make something cheaper. By adding them the volume goes up and the cost per ton goes down. What music to our ears! But add too much filler and you start to lose good...

[2023 UPDATED] In early 2022, I wrote that the challenge for 2022 would be how to survive a deluge of price increases. This challenge continues! Price increases seem to be relentless, caused by inflation, higher interest rates, port congestion surcharges and many...

So what exactly is coated calcium carbonate and why do we need to coat it? Natural calcium carbonate is hydrophilic. That means it likes water, but is pretty unfriendly towards organics like polymers. Yet the plastics industry needs a cheap white filler just as...

Serina Trading was born out of the closure of the Serina Kaolin mine in Noordhoek Cape Town, in 2007. Most of the production of the kaolin mine went to the paper industry, which at that time was moving away from kaolin as a filler, to a whiter mineral called calcium...

TiO2 remains the costliest part of making paint. If it isn’t price increases from suppliers to worry about, our weak currency makes it even worse! When the TiO2 price goes up, production costs go up. However these often can’t be passed on to already cash-strapped...

You get the data sheet from your filler supplier and you see a pH value reported on it. But how can a solid substance have a pH, and how can it be measured? We know that we can measure the pH of an aqueous solution by using a pH meter or litmus paper, but what do you...

Everyone is talking about nanoparticles these days. We hear about the exciting new uses opening up for minerals in the nanoparticle size range, from revolutionary new sunscreens to self-cleaning windows, to amazing new uses inside the human body. It is almost like a...