Method for controlling the viscosity of a sprayable mixture

1. In a painting operation, a method for controlling the viscosity of a coating composition wherein said coating composition is a sprayable mixture, said method comprising the steps of:

(A) producing a first atomized stream of a first coating component of said coating composition through an orifice of said spray gun with a stream of a pressurized carrier, wherein said first coating component is stored in a first storage container and conveyed through a first inlet of said spray gun to said orifice and wherein the viscosity of said first coating component remains substantially constant prior to being conveyed through said first inlet, wherein the first coating component is a mixture comprising a crosslinking component and a crosslinkable compound, oligomer or polymer having on average 2 to 25 crosslinkable functional groups selected from the group consisting of hydroxyl, acetoacetoxy, thiol, carboxyl, primary amine, secondary amine, epoxy, anhydride, imino, ketimine, aldimine, silane, aspartate and a combination thereof, wherein the crosslinkable compound, oligomer, or polymer comprises the aspartate crosslinkable functional group;

(B) producing a second atomized stream of a second coating component of said coating composition, wherein the second atomized stream is produced by siphoning the second coating component with a siphoning stream selected from the first atomized stream of the first coating component, the stream of the pressurized carrier, or a combination thereof, from at least one delivery outlet coupled to a second storage container containing said second coating component, said delivery outlet being positioned at said orifice;

(C) optionally, regulating the supply of the second coating component to said delivery outlet by coupling a regulatory device to said delivery outlet;

(D) intermixing the first atomized stream and the second atomized stream to form a coating mixture; and

(E) applying the coating mixture on the substrate to form the layer of said coating composition thereon.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the first coating component further comprises the crosslinking component selected from a compound, oligomer or polymer having crosslinking functional groups and wherein the crosslinking functional groups are selected from the group consisting of isocyanate, amine, ketimine, melamine, epoxy, carboxylic acid, anhydride, and a combination thereof.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein the applied coating mixture can be dried and cured in less than 20 minutes at 60° C. or in less than 90 minutes at room temperature.

4. The method of claim 3 wherein a layer of the coating composition applied over an 8 hour period provides a dried and cured layer of a coating composition having a consistent appearance.

5. The method of claim 3 wherein the dried and cured layer of coating composition has a short wavescan measurements of less than 40.

6. The method of claim 1 , wherein a layer of the coating composition applied over an 8 hour period provides a dried and cured layer of a coating composition having a consistent appearance.

7. The method of claim 1 , wherein said layer is a primer layer, a basecoat layer, a pigmented basecoat layer, or a clearcoat layer.

8. The method of claim 1 , wherein the second coating component comprises one or more materials selected from a catalyst, an initiator, an activator or a combination thereof.

9. The method of claim 8 wherein the second coating component comprises a hyperbranched polymer.

10. The method of claim 1 , wherein said second coating component comprises a catalyst selected from the group consisting of tin catalysts, tertiary amines and a combination thereof.

11. The method of claim 1 , wherein said second atomized stream is produced by siphoning the second coating component with the first atomized stream.

12. The method of claim 1 , wherein said second atomized stream is produced by siphoning the second coating component with the stream of the pressurized carrier.

13. The method of claim 1 , wherein said second atomized stream is produced by siphoning the second coating component with a combination of the first atomized stream and the stream of the pressurized carrier.

14. The method of claim 1 , wherein said substrate is a vehicle, vehicle body, or vehicle body parts.

15. The method of claim 1 , wherein said regulatory device is selected from a mechanical flow restrictor, an electric flow restrictor, a pressure controlled flow restrictor, or a combination thereof.

16. The method of claim 1 further comprising the step of curing said layer of said coating composition on the substrate to form a coating thereon.