Characterization of drying paint coatings by dynamic speckle and holographic interferometry measurements

In this work we implemented dynamic speckle and holographic interferometry techniques to characterize the drying process of solvent-based paint coatings. We propose a simple way to estimate drying time by measuring speckle activity and incrementally fitting experimental data through standard regression algorithms. This allowed us to predict drying time after about 20-30 min of paint application, which is fast compared to usual times required to reach the so-called tack-free state (≈2  h). In turn, we used holographic interferometry to map small thickness variations in the coating surface during drying. We also demonstrate that results obtained from both techniques correlate with each other, which allows us to improve the accuracy of the drying time estimation.