Paint Raw Materials: Binders, Pigments, Extenders, Solvents and Additives

Paint raw materials fall into four groups (binders, pigments, extenders, and solvents or water) plus an additive package that makes up about 1.8 % of one published waterborne guide formulation and 1.35 to 3.45 % of another, on total weight. The binder forms the film, pigments give color and hiding (colour in British usage), extenders, sold in the trade as fillers, add volume, and water or solvent carries the rest to the substrate.

Where do paint additives sit among these groups? Each family of paint additives answers a demand that one group sets: coalescents and thickeners follow the binder, dispersants follow the pigments and extenders, and defoamers and in-can preservatives follow the water.

The page treats binders, pigments, extenders and solvents as context for placing additives, not as product families. It gives the weight shares of three published guide formulations, a worked weight-to-volume calculation with every input stated, the EU and US VOC lines that sort solvents, the 15 additive families with the basis of each level and the regulatory status of the main mineral raw materials.

How we check: regulations and classifications are read at the body that issues them, standards at the standards body, and every additive level names its basis and its source; the full method is in methodology and fact-checking.

What Are Paint Raw Materials?#

Paint raw materials are ingredients weighed and mixed into a liquid paint: a binder that forms the film, pigments for color and hiding, extenders for volume, water or solvent as carrier, and additives for flow, foam, drying and preservation. The first four groups make up the bulk of the weight, and the fifth group finishes the formula.

The table compares the five groups by role, by examples and by the additive families each group calls for.

The names of the groups follow ASTM D16-24, the active ASTM terminology standard for paint, so binder, pigment, extender and solvent carry the same meaning in a data sheet and in a test method. A formulator reads every raw material against one question: which property of the finished film does it set, and which additive does that property call for?

The Four Raw-Material Groups and Where Additives Fit#

Each of the four raw-material groups calls for its own additive families: the binder for coalescents, thickeners and driers, pigments and extenders for dispersants and wetting agents, and water for defoamers, in-can preservatives and neutralizers. The binder also sets the starting pH of a waterborne paint: Palasz (PCI) gives pH 6.5 to 8.5 for acrylic and 4.5 to 8.0 for vinyl acetate latexes, and neutralizing agents adjust the paint from that point.

The level basis follows the group as well. Dispersant levels are written in % as supplied on pigment weight, drier levels in % metal on binder solids and in-can biocide levels in ppm active on the total paint, so every level names the group or quantity it is measured against. Counting pigments and extenders together gives the four components named in general descriptions of paint: binder, pigment, solvent and additives.

How Much of Each Raw Material Goes Into a Paint?#

Three published waterborne guide formulations put water at 11 to 30 %, TiO2 at 14 to 20 %, extenders at 7 to 36 %, binder at 20 to 55 % and additives at 1.35 to about 11 % of total wet weight. The spread follows the paint: an interior matte, an interior mid-sheen and a direct-to-metal anticorrosive paint.

The table compares the group shares of the three guide formulations in % w/w on the total wet formula.

The shares describe three named formulations, not an average paint. Each guide is a starting point to ladder against the paint's own targets, and the basis of each column stays % of total wet weight.

Weight Shares in Three Published Guide Formulations#

The PCC Group formulation guide gives its EU Ecolabel indoor matte paint 18.3 % free water, 9.9 % water in the hydroxyethyl cellulose (HEC) solution, 14 % TiO2, 36 % extenders and 20 % binder dispersion. The same guide designed this paint against Decision 2014/312/EU, since repealed by Decision (EU) 2025/2607, whose criteria now apply. Additives fill the remaining share of about 1.8 %, and water reaches 28.2 % of the matte formula once the HEC solution is counted (18.3 + 9.9).

The waterborne direct-to-metal anticorrosive formulation of the same guide shifts the balance toward the binder: 55 % binder, 11 % water, 16 % TiO2 and 7 % talc. An interior mid-sheen framework, a distributor guide formulation (Raykem), gives every component as a range in % of total batch: water 25 to 30, TiO2 15 to 20, calcium carbonate 15 to 25, kaolin 5 to 10 and a styrene-acrylic latex at 50 % solids 20 to 28. Its ranges serve as an illustrative starting point, not as a specification.

Why Additives Are a Small Share of the Formula#

Additives stay at about 1.8 % of the Ecolabel matte guide because its largest additive item, the dispersants, takes 0.8 %, and the direct-to-metal guide reaches about 11 % with coalescent, thickener solutions and corrosion inhibitors counted as supplied. In the matte guide, defoamers take 0.4 %, the polyether thickener 0.4 % and HEC 0.10 % active.

In the direct-to-metal guide, a coalescent supplies 2.2 %, two HEUR thickener solutions at 50 % supply 4.1 % and corrosion inhibitors 2.0 %. The smallest basis belongs to the in-can biocide: the 1,2-benzisothiazol-3(2H)-one (BIT) label with EPA Reg. No. 6836-423 gives 97 to 483 ppm active on total paint, from 0.05 to 0.25 % of a 19.3 % product. On total weight, that is 0.0097 to 0.0483 % active.

Worked Example: Weight and Volume Shares of a Latex Paint#

A worked-example latex paint of 200 g TiO2, 250 g calcite, 300 g latex at 50 % solids and 250 g water holds 60.0 % solids by weight but 41.2 % solids by volume, because dense minerals take little space. The batch weighs 1,000 g (2.205 lb); it is an illustrative calculation, not a formulation, and additives are left out.

The five steps of the calculation are listed below.

1. Take the weights of the four components per 1,000 g of paint.
2. Split the 300 g of latex into 150 g of polymer and 150 g of water at 50 % solids.
3. Divide each weight by its density: TiO2 4.0, calcite 2.7, dry polymer 1.09 and water 1.00 g/cm3.
4. Add the volumes to 680.2 cm3 of wet paint.
5. Divide each volume by the total to get the volume shares.

The table gives every input and result of the worked example per 1,000 g (2.205 lb) of paint.

The minerals carry 45.0 % of the weight but 21.0 % of the volume, while the water carries 40.0 % of the weight and 58.8 % of the volume. Volumes, not weights, feed a pigment volume concentration (PVC) calculator. The 142.59 cm3 of TiO2 and calcite and the 137.61 cm3 of polymer are the two inputs this example passes to the pigment volume concentration (PVC) calculator.

The densities sit inside published ranges: PubChem lists 3.9 to 4.3 g/cm3 for TiO2 and 2.7 to 2.95 g/cm3 for calcium carbonate. The dry polymer value of 1.09 g/cm3 is the midpoint of 1.04 to 1.13 g/cm3, derived from the solids and the dispersion density of 1.02 to 1.06 g/cm3 (8.5 to 8.8 lb/gal) in the latex data Palasz (PCI) quotes. ASTM D5201-26, active since 2026-06-29, calculates weight solids, volume solids and density from formulation data on the same assumptions: ideal mixing with no volume change, and retained liquids such as plasticizers counted as solids. A measured value needs another method, because ASTM D2697-22 states in its scope that it does not apply to pigmented coatings, despite its title.

In US units, the batch weighs 2.205 lb (1 lb = 453.59237 g), and its density of 1.470 g/cm3, or 1,470 g/L, equals 12.27 lb/US gal at 1 lb/gal = 119.8264 g/L. The same arithmetic gives 0.441 lb of TiO2, 0.551 lb of calcite and 0.882 lb of water in the batch.

Binders: The Film Former That Sets Coalescent and Thickener Demand#

The binder is the film former of a paint, such as a latex, an alkyd, an epoxy, a polyurethane polyol with its isocyanate, or nitrocellulose, and its type decides which coalescent, thickener, drier or catalyst the formula needs. A latex is an acrylic or vinyl acetate polymer dispersed in water, and it forms a film as the water leaves and the polymer particles coalesce.

One latex data sheet quoted by Palasz (PCI) lists 48 % solids, MFFT 23 °C (73 °F), Tg 26 °C (79 °F) and a viscosity of 800 to 1,800 mPa·s (cP). Palasz also gives particle sizes of 80 to 150 nm for acrylic and 0.2 to 2.0 µm for vinyl acetate latexes. A latex with an MFFT above the application temperature forms no continuous film on its own, so the binder decides whether the formula needs a coalescent and how much.

The minimum film formation temperature is measured to ASTM D2354-10(2023), which covers values below 90 °C (194 °F). How coalescents lower it, and how to ladder them, is set out in minimum film formation temperature (MFFT). The substrate takes part too: in Perera et al. (Journal of Coatings Technology, 2001), 6.3 % and 15.4 % of the coalescent of two test paints moved into a porous fiber-cement substrate.

Alkyd binders cure by oxidation and call for driers, whose levels are written in % metal on binder solids, never in % of the total paint. Two-component (2K) epoxy and polyurethane binders cure by reaction, and their catalysts belong to the functional additives on this site. Each binder type therefore brings its own additive list: coalescent and thickener for a latex, drier and anti-skinning agent for an alkyd, catalyst for a 2K binder.

Pigments and Extenders: Opacity, Volume and Cost#

Pigments give a paint its color and hiding, extenders give it volume, matting and lower cost, and both need a dispersant and a wetting agent to stay deflocculated in the binder. The two groups share one additive demand, because every particle surface has to be wetted and then kept apart.

TiO2 is the most expensive ingredient of the latex paints Palasz (PCI) describes. ASTM D476-15(2021) sorts TiO2 grades into types, and Palasz names Type III (at least 80 % TiO2) for low-cost paints above 80 % pigment volume concentration, Type II for low-PVC gloss paints and Type V for high-durability exterior paints.

Extenders, among them calcite, talc, kaolin, barytes and silica, add volume at a lower cost than TiO2. Their oil absorption, measured by spatula rub-out to ASTM D281-12(2021) or by the Gardner-Coleman method of ASTM D1483-12(2023), sets the critical pigment volume concentration (CPVC) of the pigment blend.

Anticorrosive pigments count as additives on this site, under corrosion inhibitors, not as pigments. One 2K epoxy primer guide formulation gives them 22.0 vol % of its pigment and filler at a pigment volume concentration of 34.0 % and a PVC/CPVC ratio of 0.6.

Solvents and Water: The Carrier and the VOC Line#

The solvent or water carries binder, pigments and additives to the substrate and then leaves the film, and in the EU its organic compounds boiling at or below 250 °C (482 °F) count as volatile organic compounds (VOC). Water is the carrier of waterborne paints, including all three guide formulations above, and organic solvents carry solventborne paints.

Directive 2004/42/EC, Article 2(5), defines a VOC as an organic compound with an initial boiling point of 250 °C or less at 101.3 kPa, and Article 2(7) counts as an organic solvent any VOC used to dissolve or dilute raw materials or as a dispersion medium, viscosity adjuster, surface tension adjuster, plasticizer or preservative. Additive carriers therefore fall under the same line as the main solvent. The VOC content is given in g/L of the ready-to-use paint, water not subtracted, against Phase II limits that apply from 2010-01-01. Texanol (2,2,4-trimethyl-1,3-pentanediol monoisobutyrate, bp 254 °C (489 °F)) is no VOC under the Directive but counts as a semi-volatile organic compound (SVOC) under EU Ecolabel Decision (EU) 2025/2607, while propylene glycol (bp 187.6 °C (369.7 °F)) is a VOC.

In the US, VOC in paint excludes the negligibly reactive compounds of 40 CFR 51.100(s) (eCFR, 2026-10-30), among them acetone, methyl acetate, methyl formate, parachlorobenzotrifluoride (PCBTF), propylene carbonate, dimethyl carbonate, 2-amino-2-methyl-1-propanol (AMP, effective 2014-06-25) and t-butyl acetate (effective 2016-04-25). The federal AIM value is computed in g/L less water and exempt compounds, colorant added to tint bases excluded (40 CFR 59.406(a)(1)), and both systems are compared in VOC in paint. No glycol, glycol ether, Texanol or TXIB is exempt.

Additives bring their own solvents into this budget, so a coalescent or a glycol counts by the same boiling-point and exemption rules as the main carrier. Limits in g/L convert to US units at 1 lb/gal = 119.8264 g/L, so 100 g/L equals 0.83 lb/gal.

Additives: The 15 Families That Complete the Formula#

Additives are the 15 families of minor raw materials that finish a paint formula, from rheology modifiers, dispersants and defoamers to driers, coalescents, biocides and corrosion inhibitors, each dosed on its own basis. Catalysts and moisture scavengers are class nodes under the functional additives, so they add no sixteenth family.

The table lists the 15 families with their function, level basis, one sourced example where one exists and the raw-material group each serves.

Four bases cover the families in the table: % as supplied on pigment for dispersants, % metal on binder solids for driers, ppm active on total paint for biocides and % as supplied on total formula for most of the rest. A level without its basis cannot be compared across families. In the worked example above, an illustrative 1.0 % dispersant on the 450 g of TiO2 and calcite equals 4.5 g, or 0.45 % of the 1,000 g batch, because % on total = % on pigment x pigment mass fraction (1.0 x 0.45).

Paint additive dosage holds the basis constant while the level steps up, for example through 0, 0.5, 1, 1.5 and 2 times a starting level, and the plateau of the target property marks the working level. Conversions between bases and ladder studies are set out in paint additive dosage.

Raw-Material Quality and Regulatory Checks#

Calcium carbonate and talc, two extenders of the guide formulations above, carry no CLP Annex VI entry, and 90.22 % of ECHA C&L notifications for calcium carbonate and 94.62 % for talc report "not classified". Kaolin has no Annex VI entry either, and 83.92 % of its notifications report not classified.

For talc, an opinion of the ECHA Risk Assessment Committee (RAC) from 2025 proposes Carc. 1B H350. No adaptation of CLP had adopted it as of 2026-11-02, so the proposal is pending and the status above applies today.

The table gives each raw-material check with its rule or status, instrument and date.

Under California Proposition 65, TiO2 is listed as "titanium dioxide (airborne, unbound particles of respirable size)" for cancer since 2011-09-02, and talc only as "talc containing asbestiform fibers" since 1990-04-01. Calcium carbonate is not listed as such, but a respirable crystalline silica impurity falls under "Silica, crystalline (airborne particles of respirable size)", listed for cancer on 1988-10-01.

The EU Ecolabel adds a raw-material rule of its own: Decision (EU) 2025/2607 sets a crystalline silica rule for mineral raw materials, anti-sagging and matting agents included, at H372 up to 1.0 % and H373 up to 10 % w/w. An Ecolabel paint therefore needs the crystalline silica data of every mineral raw material it contains.

The two calculators and the data note below take the weights, densities and solvent data of this page further.

• pigment volume concentration (PVC) calculator: enter pigment, extender and binder weights and densities to get PVC and volume solids.
• paint VOC content calculator: VOC in g/L with and without water and exempt compounds.
• privacy policy: what the site's own forms collect, and that form submissions are kept 24 months.

From Raw Materials to Finished Paint#

Raw materials become paint by physical processes only, weighing, mixing, grinding, tinting, thinning and packaging, with no chemical reaction, as EPA AP-42 section 6.4 describes paint manufacture. The mixing runs in large tanks at about room temperature.

In which order do the raw materials go in, and how is paint manufactured at plant scale? The order of addition, from the liquid before the pigment to the let-down, is set out in how paint is manufactured.

Two formulation concepts follow from the raw-material volumes of the worked example: pigment volume concentration, which sets pigment and extender against binder solids, and MFFT, which sets the coalescent demand of a latex binder.

Raw Materials by Paint Type#

Raw materials change with the paint type: an alkyd paint needs driers for its binder, a 2K epoxy cures by reaction, and a metal primer carries anticorrosive pigments. The four paint-type pages are listed below.

• alkyd paint formulation: driers dosed in % metal on binder solids, plus an anti-skinning agent.
• epoxy paint formulation: two-component paints whose binder cures by reaction.
• primer formulation: anticorrosive metal primers and wall and wood primers.
• paint formulations by paint type: every paint type with its additive package, the four main types included.

Paint formulation fundamentals, from raw materials to dosage, apply to every type in the list. The five concept pages are collected under paint formulation fundamentals.

What Are the 4 Components of Paint?#

The four components of paint are binder, pigment, solvent and additives; formulators split pigments into prime pigments and extenders, which gives the four raw-material groups plus additives used on this page. The additives span 15 families on this site.

What Ingredients Does Paint Contain?#

Paint contains a binder, pigments, extenders, water or solvent and additives drawn from 15 families, such as thickeners, dispersants, defoamers and biocides. The list follows the order of the groups on this page.

Each ingredient is one of the paint chemicals a formulator names by function. The families and their substances start from the paint chemicals overview.