SMI: Barite / Barytes in Paint

Specialty Minerals Barites (Barytes) for Paint and Coatings

Barite (also called baryte) is barium sulfate, a unique industrial mineral. Its specific gravity is 4.5—almost twice that of any other of the common industrial minerals. For comparison, the specific gravity of calcium carbonate is about 2.7. This property has some interesting implications for paint formulations.

Barite is commonly only used in powder coatings and high-performance specialty finishes, but does enjoy more general paint uses in regions of the world where paint is sold by weight rather than by volume. Most paint manufacturers purchase raw materials by weight, but sell their products by volume—by the gallon or liter. Thus, ingredients with high-specific gravity take up less volume for their weight. Accordingly, a can of paint will weigh and cost more to manufacture than an equal volume of paint that contains ingredients with low-specific gravity. On a volume basis, using high-specific gravity barite (which is also a higher priced extender) can more than double the cost-in-use compared to a similarly priced extender mineral of typical specific gravity. This tends to eliminate barite from many paint formulations on a cost basis (unless the goal is to add heft to the can with its implication for quality). This is unfortunate because barite can offer some distinctive advantages.

Barite is chemically inert with a nodular particle shape. It has value in specialty coatings, primarily maintenance coatings and primers, where its inertness is useful in industrial or salt-spray atmospheres. Also, its high-specific gravity helps promote adhesion and surface leveling. Some exterior architectural coatings incorporate barite to reduce surface porosity.

Barite comes in a range of colors, but is typically white or buff yellow. White barite is used in coating applications, while buff yellow tends to be used in darker plastics and rubber applications. White barite is used to promote a smooth, even surface in powder coatings. It is also used in systems that are sold by weight, where its high-specific gravity works to its advantage.

Barite Fillers from Specialty Minerals Inc.
Specialty Minerals Inc. (SMI) produces its Baricron™ white barites for the paint industry using high-quality, high-brightness Chinese barite ore. It is available in a wide range of particle sizes for all types of coatings. One of our products, Baricron™ 1085 white barite, is a very small particle-sized material that can replace blanc fixe (precipitated barium sulfate), sometimes used as a titanium dioxide (TiO₂) extender in coatings formulations.

Baricron™ barite – is a family of four high-brightness barites pigments, ranging from 1.5 to 8 microns, which produce Hegman paint fineness of grinds of 8 to 4.

Click on the product name to download the technical data sheet.

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