What is KPT04 Thinner ?

[awemawson]

I've used paints in the past that specify KPT04 thinners for dilution

I've used paints in the past that specify Xylene thinners for dilution

... got both on the shelf

Recently I've been spraying a tractor flail mower with QD Enamel and I'm not sure which thinner is supposed to be used. I'd done a compatibility test by brush over some etch primer, and I diluted the QD enamel with Xylene, but when it came to cleaning the brush I found that the brush wasn't coming clean with the xylene, but was easily with KPT04. Nothing on the QD enamel tin to say what to use and maker closed when I needed the information. I actually used KPT04 on the flail when spraying which came out ok but I need more paint and thinners to finish the job.

I'll ring them in the morning, but meanwhile does anyone know what KPT04 actually is. There is at least one reference on the web to it being white spirit, but they smell different to me.

 

[voipio]

Is QD a brand name, or are you using it as an abbreviation for quick drying? Are the thinners made by the same company?

 

[awemawson]

I'm assuming QD is quick drying - the tins of thinner bear no makers name - the paint is this

http://www.paints4trade.com/plant--machinery-enamel-paint-260100-p.asp

 

[voipio]

According to one of paints4trade's sister sites, paintsrus.co.uk, KPT04 is a "top quality blend of solvents....ideal for thinning and tool cleaning". MSDS are not readily available, although they should be, in this safety conscious day and age. I would want to know what was in it, if there happened to be an accident involving ingestion of the stuff. Hospitals poisons units would probably be hard pushed to find the info, so treatment might not be best suited to what's actually in the KPT04.

Often, with materials like these, the actual ingredients were probably mixed using the contents of a couple or three drums, each containing mixtures of organic solvents. As an example, naptha (heavy or light) is used as a solvent in quite a few prducts, and is a mixture consisting mainly of straight-chained and cyclic aliphatic hydrocarbons having from five to nine or seven to nine carbon atoms per molecule. Then there are the xylenes and ethyl benzene, again a mixture, offered as a product.

KPT04 is likely to contain a mixture of these, including xylenes (i.e. more than one xylene isomer), some aromatic hydrocarbon mixture, white spirit. Possible other candidates include n-butyl acetate, butanol, and MEK. If a small quantity is left open to the atmosphere in something like a bottle cap, it will evaporate and give off a range of aromas. To borrow from the perfumery industry, the top note is going to come predominantly from the most volatile compounds, straight after pouring, whilst the middle or heart note will be stronger a day or two later, and the base notes will come in a day or three later, when there should be very little left. The timings will be influenced by temperature. Doing this, you might be able to hazard a guess at what might be in there from having a sniff at various times.