Caltech India offers Opacity Charts, Checkerboard Charts (also known as Spreading Rate Charts), Sag and Leveling Test Charts. We have wide range of drawdown cards and charts for virtually any application and coating material. Stringent equality control during the production process assures that they have the most consistent color and gloss in the industry. Test charts are easy to use and an economical substrate to test a variety of coating properties, such as opacity, spreading rate, and flow & leveling behavior. They are used for testing architectural, industrial, automotive, wood finishes or even cosmetic products (e.g. nail polish). Depending on the material properties of the product to be tested and its usage different types of drawdown cards are available.

Selection of test charts dependent on coating technology

Depending on the types of solvent used in paint formulations a drawdown chart needs to be more or less solvent resistant. The resin type requires different solvent types and dependent on the polarity of the solvent, the organic ingredients will be more or less activated. Therefore, Caltech India offers two types of drawdown cards and charts.

Clear-coated Charts

• Are ideal for a wide range of coating systems: water and solvent borne technologies
• Guaranteed non-fluorescent paper in compliance with ASTM D344
• Repeatable color and gloss-lot after lot
• Superior adhesion characteristics, especially with latex paints
• Rugged design (0.5 mm thickness) to prevent warping and bending after the coating is applied.
• Package is shrink-wrapped with low permeability plastic to prevent moisture absorption during shipping and storage.
• Lot number are printed on every charts

Film Laminated Charts

• With excellent solvent resistance
• Repeatable color and gloss-lot after lot
• Smooth, structure free surface
• Superior adhesion properties and flexibility
• With 0.5 mm thickness
• Double film laminated will not warp and bend-even in high humidity environments.

Selection of test charts dependent on application:

1. Opacity Charts

• Comprised of a simple combination of black and white areas. The reflectance of black area＜1；reflectance of with area：80±2。
• with ample for reflectance measurement
• With the lot number printed on every chart

Ordering Information

Order information	Description	Material	Dimensions	Qty/Box
BGD 1100	Opacity charts	Film Laminated	150×100mm	1000
BGD 1101	Opacity charts	Film Laminated	250×140mm	500
BGD 1102	Opacity charts	Film Laminated	289×194mm	500
BGD 1103	Opacity charts	Clear-coated	150×100mm	1000
BGD 1104	Opacity charts 2A	Clear-coated	250×140mm	500
BGD 1105	Opacity charts	Clear-coated	289×194mm	500
BGD 1106	Opacity charts 3B	Clear-coated	289×194mm	500

Opacity Measurement

Essential sales criteria for architectural paint are hiding power and yield. In other words:
— How many layers are necessary for complete coverage?
— And how many cans will be needed?

Opacity (%)=Y black×100 (%)/Y white

100% opacity means complete hiding, no difference can be seen between the drawdown over black and white.

Procedure

A uniform paint film is applied on a black/white contrast chart. After air drying the drawdown can be objectively evaluated using the opacity meter. The operator is menu guided through the measurement procedure and the opacity value is displayed automatically in a second. The same procedure can be applied for transparent films and plastics.

2. Checkerboard Charts / Spreading Rate Charts

The Checkerboard Charts are black and white checkerboard pattern charts used in drawdown hiding tests.

Large size drawdown charts, referred to as display or spreading rate charts, were designed for visual evaluation of hiding powder. One of the earliest hiding power test surfaces was linoleum with a black and white checkerboard pattern, this was soon replaced by sealed paperboard charts.

The diagonal striped patterns or the checkerboard respectively have a strong visual impact and emphasize variations in film opacity.

Checkerboard Rate Charts are typically used in drawdown hiding tests.

In order to calculate the spreading rate ASTM D344 uses Forms 8H and 10H. In this test the paint is spread uniformly on a defined test area (0.1 square meters～1 square foot) and the spreading rate is calculated from the weight and density of the applied coating.

Ordering Information

Order information	Description	Material	Dimensions	Qty/Box
BGD 1110	Opacity-Display Charts	Film Laminated	250×140mm	500
BGD 1111	Display Spreading Charts	Film Laminated	289×194mm	500
BGD 1112	Opacity-Display Charts 9A	Clear-coated	250×140mm	500
BGD 1113	Display Spreading Charts 8B	Clear-coated	289×194mm	500
BGD 1114	Opacity-Display Spreading Rate 14H	Clear-coated	438×286mm	250
BGD 1121	Checkerboard Spreading Rate	Film Laminated	250×100mm	1000
BGD 1122	Checkerboard Spreading Rate	Film Laminated	250×140mm	500
BGD 1123	Checkerboard Spreading Rate	Clear-coated	250×140mm	500

3. Sag and Leveling Test Charts

This drawdown charts is designed for use with BGD 225 Sagging Tester or BGD 226 Leveling Tester.

The extra large black area allows measurements to be made over the black area only, in accordance with specifications that Require the operator to ignore the leading and trailing edges of the drawdown.

Ordering Information

BGD 1109	Sag and leveling Test Charts