Monte Carlo computer simulations of the structure of organic coatings

Many aspects of the performance of art organic coating depend upon its structure, that is, the arrangement of the various types of solid materials and the voids in the dry film. There is strong interest in predicting the structure of a latex paint film and related properties such as permeability, gloss and durability. During the past 20 years, a theoretical model (the pigment volume concentration) has been widely used to characterize this structure in terms of the random packing of nondeformable solid particles. Recently, Monte Carlo computer techniques have been applied to simulate and visualize coating structure, as well as the penetration of paint films by aggressive species from the environment.