New raw materials show up in the lab constantly — new supplier, alternate source, a reformulation project, or just something you've never personally handled before. Here's a simple, usable checklist for the next time that happens.
On the Technical Data Sheet (TDS), look for:
• What category is this? (Binder, pigment, extender, solvent, additive — and within that, what family?)
• What's the solids content, and what's the carrier (solvent or water)?
• What's the recommended use level or dosage?
• Are there handling notes — temperature sensitivity, shelf life, storage conditions?
• What's it compatible with, and what should it not be mixed with?
Questions worth asking a supplier or a more senior chemist:
• What job is this material doing in our formula — what would happen if we left it out?
• Is there a reason we're using this specific grade or family, versus an alternative?
• What does "normal" look like for this material — appearance, viscosity, behavior — so I'd notice if a batch looked off?
• Are there any known compatibility issues with materials we already use?
Red flags to watch for:
• A TDS that's vague on solids content, VOC, or recommended use level.
• Recommended storage or handling conditions that don't match what your facility can actually provide.
• A big jump in viscosity, color, or odor compared to a previous lot of the "same" material — always worth flagging, even if it turns out to be nothing.
You don't need to know the answer to every one of these questions on day one. What matters is knowing which questions to ask — that's the difference between a new tech who's guessing and one who's actually building expertise, one raw material at a time.
Quick-Reference Glossary
A short list of terms from this book, worth bookmarking for your first few months on the job.
• Binder (resin) — the ingredient that forms the film and holds everything else together
• Pigment — provides color and/or hiding power; functional pigments provide a non-color property like corrosion protection
• Extender — bulks the formula and tunes properties like sheen, hardness, and cost, without providing meaningful color
• Solvent — the liquid carrier; evaporates during dry/cure and controls application behavior
• Additive — small-dose ingredient that solves a specific, targeted problem
• TDS (Technical Data Sheet) — supplier document describing a raw material's typical properties and recommended use
• COA (Certificate of Analysis) — supplier document showing the actual measured properties of a specific lot
• SDS (Safety Data Sheet) — safety and handling information, including flash point and hazard classification
• Solids content — the percentage of a material that remains after solvent/water evaporates
• Viscosity — a measure of a liquid's resistance to flow; affects handling, application, and film build
• VOC (Volatile Organic Compound) — organic solvent content that evaporates during application, regulated by weight per volume
• PVC (Pigment Volume Concentration) — the ratio of pigment-plus-extender volume to total solids volume in the dried film
• CPVC (Critical PVC) — the PVC threshold above which there's no longer enough binder to fully wet out every particle
• Dispersion — the process (and resulting quality) of separating pigment/extender particles evenly throughout a formula
• Flash point — the lowest temperature at which a material gives off enough vapor to ignite; a safety and handling number, not a performance one
Next up: This wraps Book 2 of the Coatings Industry Training Series. Book 3 goes deep on resin chemistry itself — how the binder families actually differ at a working level, and how that shows up in real formulation decisions. Subscribe to the OSS Formulation Academy newsletter to catch it first.