Anticipating future needs Research and Development

R&D CENTRES AND LABORATORIES

R&D centres and laboratories

in 5 countries

CIN has R&D centres and Laboratories in Portugal, Spain, France, Angola and Mozambique.

9500

M² of laboratories area

180

Specialized technicians

350

Thousand hours per year

11M

Euros in annual investment

MAIN COMPETENCES

A R&D Centre is made up of different areas of competence which act in a complementary manner At CIN the R&D Centres are organized into 4 areas of key competencies: product study, colour study, product composition analysis as well as product behaviour and weathering study.

R&D LABORATORIES

The R&D Laboratories carry out 4 main activities which are developed in 3 different areas The main activities are the development of new products, modification/improvement of existing products, benchmarking and raw materials trialling and evaluation. The areas earmarked for carrying out these activities are the manufacturing laboratories, the application laboratories and, finally, the testing and trialling laboratories.

Manufacturing laboratories

These are equipped with dispersers, mills and a pilot plant which allows for the production of paint prototypes up to 150 litres and the scale-up study before factory production.

Application laboratories

These have booths for painting and equipment for applying and drying which simulate various types of application.

Testing and trialling laboratories

These are equipped with various specific technologies for testing and identifying the physical characteristics of the paints in a liquid phase and their mechanical and chemical characteristics in a solid state.

OTHER LABORATORIES

COLOUR LABORATORIES

Formulation and study of colours The colour laboratories undertake the study of colours, develop colorants for industrial and protective coatings and manage colour databases. The main equipment used to support this activity are spectrophotometers, lighting booths and tinting machines.

ANALYTICAL LABORATORIES

Chemistry at the base of innovation The analytical laboratories use high-technology equipment such as gas and liquid chromatographs, infra-red spectrophotometers, differential scanning calorimeters and optical microscopes and rheometers to perform quality control of raw materials, identification and analysis of substances and deformulation of coatings.

ACCELERATED WEATHERING TESTING LABORATORY

Assessment of the resistance of coatings to weathering The accelerated weathering testing laboratories can simulate exposure to the elements (sun, humidity, rainfall, salts) in an accelerated manner in order to quickly assess the behaviour of coatings. These tests are carried out according to international standards, using specific equipment such as salt spray chambers, humidity and condensation chambers, QUV, UV or climatic chambers.

NATURAL WEATHERING TESTING STATION

Studying weathering in a natural environment Complementary to the accelerated weathering testing, natural weathering testing is also carried out. Specimens of various types of material are painted and placed in a specific area for this purpose where they are permanently exposed to sun, rain, etc.