With our Embatuff thermal insulation for containers, paints and solvents are protected from temperature variation and humidity during transportation and storage.

Temperature and humidity when transporting paints and solvents

When transporting paints and solvents, it is necessary to maintain stable temperature and humidity conditions, both to maintain the quality of the product and for safety during transport.

Paints and the like that give off flammable vapours at temperatures of 60ºC or below must be transported in accordance with hazardous materials regulations. We will examine this in greater detail below.

High temperatures can accelerate the evaporation of solvents and thinners, thickening the paint. This factor can cause the paint to dry faster, affecting its extensibility and finishing spray, or causing skin formation or pigment sedimentation when the emulsion breaks.

On the other hand, at low temperatures, the effect is the opposite. The evaporation of solvents and thinners slows down, increasing the viscosity of the paint and taking longer to dry and cure.

A very important factor to take into account is that in water-based paints, temperatures below 5ºC must be avoided to prevent frost.

On the other hand, in regard to the humidity during transport, we must take into account that a relative humidity above 80% will make it difficult for paints to evaporate and dry.

For paints with isocyanate-based hardeners, it must be taken into account that these solidify when reacting to water or ambient humidity.

Dangerous goods regulations for paints and solvents

Dangerous goods regulations are based on classifying products based on their risk characteristics, for which the UN has assigned a 4-digit number for 2,332 items.

Number 1263 is the one that includes paints, solvents and thinners, lacquers, enamels, colorants, shellacs, varnishes, encaustics, liquid finishes and liquid bases for lacquers.

Now that we know that we must follow the UN 1263 regulation, we must take into account several characteristics to determine proper treatment during transport:

• Flashpoint: can be classified into two groups: below 23ºC (higher risk) or in the range from 23ºC to 60ºC (lower risk).
• Initial boiling point: below 35ºC (higher risk) or above 35ºC (lower risk).
• Viscosity: depending on the dynamic viscosity values for a shear rate close to 0 at a temperature of 23ºC, materials can be reclassified to a more or less demanding risk group or may even be excluded from hazardous materials treatment
• Nitrocellulose content: a content of less than 20%, together with other conditions, can leave the mixture outside the scope of dangerous goods
• Vapour pressure: a value lower than 110KPa at 50ºC will allow us to use a greater range of means of containment during ground transport

Embatuff thermal liner for transporting paints

As indicated above, it is vitally important to keep relative humidity and temperature conditions stable when transporting paints and solvents.

As we can see in the graphic below, Embatuff thermal liner is perfectly designed to maintain stability during the transportation of shipping containers due to its thermal protection capacity.

In-chamber temperature test performed by the certified centre APPLUS Laboratories. Extreme conditions were simulated in the test to observe the basic behaviour of the Embatuff Thermal liner. The material was exposed to the following temperature sequences, 30ºC (4hrs), 50ºC (6hrs), 30ºC (4hrs) and 10ºC (6hrs), imitating an ocean climate.

Other features to highlight include:

• Protection against humidity: isolates cargo from container rainfall and reduces the relative humidity of the cargo.
• Odour and dirt isolation: the cargo travels hygienically isolated from the container, protecting the latter and saving the cost of washing it after use.
• Standard sizes: For all DRY VAN container sizes.
• Rapid installation: it takes a single operator 5 minutes to install the liner (DRY VAN 20’)
• Produced in Europe: High quality standards of manufacturing and prompt delivery, even with single unit orders.

If you would like more information about packaging for the transportation of paints and solvents, please contact our experts for advice on the best solution.