[GregS]

I have a bottle of "ceramic coating" that is for applying to the exterior surfaces of vehicles, primarily painted surfaces.  I believe the main active ingredient is SiO2. It is a liquid, and is spread thinly, and then buffed off, like a wax or sealant.
The product description says it is resistant to "light solvents". I asked the manufacturer for clarification, but their response was not helpful.
What exactly is a "light" solvent? Can a "heavy" solvent be rendered "light" by diluting it with a "light" solvent?

[Borek]

What exactly is a "light" solvent?

I am not sure it is unambiguously defined. I would expect it to mean a liquid made of compounds (mostly hydrocarbons) of a low molecular mass.

Can a "heavy" solvent be rendered "light" by diluting it with a "light" solvent?

I would say yes.

Assuming "light" and "heavy" relates to the average molecular mass of the compounds in the mixture there is a continuum: some solvents are light, some heavy, some in between. Adding a light solvent to the heavy one makes the mixture to sit in between the original ones. Adding more and more of the light solvent makes the mixture more and more similar in the composition to the original light solvent.

[billnotgatez]

Could this be light exposure vs. heavy exposure?

[Corribus]

Could this be light exposure vs. heavy exposure?

That was my initial thought as well. Like: a few drips that you wipe off immediately vs a four hour soak in acetone.

[GregS]

Thanks everyone. I suspected it wouldn't have a clear answer. I'm going to contact the manufacturer again, and ask them to give an example of a "light" solvent, and a "heavy" solvent. 😉

[AWK]

By asking a question you make it difficult to explain it by providing incorrect information. The car body maintenance product does not contain SiO2, only polysiloxanes (after burning it will be silicon dioxide, but I do not recommend trying to set the car on fire to check it).

The manufacturer is obliged to provide in the MSDS all information about the dangers related to the use of his product (MSDS must be available on the internet). His product also has a user manual, which often includes information about the most important ingredients. If the product is not patent-protected, the manufacturer tries to minimize the information available, and this is probably the case here.

 After a few hours of hardening with the help of additional mysterious substances contained in this product, the protective layer tightly adheres to the varnish and becomes resistant to water and lighter than water, chemically non-aggressive organic solvents - probably the manufacturer had gasoline in mind (Borek correctly interpreted the available scraps of information). High-boiling organic non-volatile liquids (e.g. diesel fuel) will damage the protective coating.

[GregS]

Thanks awk. Please don't blame me for providing "incorrect" information though - blame the manufacturer:
https://carpro.global/catalog/cquartz-lite/#:~:text=CQuartz%20Lite%20is%20built%20on,try%20their%20first%20ceramic%20coating.
Quoting:
"CQuartz Lite is built on a combination of Sio2 and Tio2 particles with over 45% solid materials, as well as proprietary ingredients not made public outside of the lab!".

Do you think they are providing incorrect information here?

[AWK]

"is built" means used for synthesis

[GregS]

Ok. Well, I think non-chemists (including me), would interpret "is built on" to mean "is made of".

If I get another reply from the manufacturer I'll post here.

[AWK]

The chemist always means synthesis.
Bread is made from flour, but bread can be made at most breadcrumbs because complicated chemical reactions took place.

I also guessed well that the manufacturer probably does not have a patent on this product (or the patent has already expired). This is evidenced by the statement "as well as proprietary ingredients not made public outside of the lab".

There is no word "heavy" in the attached link, and the term "light solvents" has been described well enough in this thread.

[GregS]

Thanks again. I know that the word "heavy" does not exist in the link, however, the fact that they mention "light" solvents implies to me that solvents that are "not light" exist, and I am referring to such solvents as "heavy", which I admit may well be technically incorrect.

So, would you predict that this product would be resistant to pure isopropyl alcohol?

How about acetone?

[AWK]

You are going to test nail polish remover on a car body? I would add ethyl acetate.

[Corribus]

I think they actually do mean silica (SiO2) and titania (TiO2) particles in this case, since it's marketed as a ceramic coating and particles are specifically mentioned in the marketing materials. This is speculation, but most likely it's those ceramic particles (plus pigment?) suspended in some kind of curable polymeric resin. The resin suspends the particles, which provide strength, scratch-resistance, luster, color, and/or brightening. Synthetic chemistry, and language thereof, probably has very little to do with it. "Built on" almost surely refers to ingredient formulation, i.e., the active component is the ceramic particles. If it's a curable polymer resin as the suspension matrix, it will be pretty resistant to light solvent exposure, heavy exposure to organic solvent - or exposure to really aggressive solvents - will damage/dissolve the polymer host material and thus affect the surface characteristics and visual properties of the coating. This would be true for any varnish, be it furniture polish, wood polish, car paint, glass coatings etc. Most likely the particle characteristics and resin characteristics are proprietary but possibly not patent protected.

[GregS]

If it helps, they also say that it "contains 45% solids". Does that suggest actual SiO2 & TiO2 particles?

[AWK]

Have you used this preparation? If it would even contain nanoparticles of silicon and titanium oxides, it must be an opaque suspension. One of the descriptions stated that it was a transparent liquid. There is nothing about these oxides in the MSDS for this preparation, because these compounds are considered safe except for inhalation, and in the case of a liquid it does not matter. Also, the polymer does not need to be disclosed.
From toxic or hazardous substances MSDS for Germany the MSDS list the following: naphta (petrol), Stoddart solvent, toluene,
titanium tetraisopropanolate, hexamethyldisiloxane, trimethoxy(1H,1H,2H,2H-heptadecafluorodecyl)silane, N-(3-(trimethoxysilyl)propyl) ethylenediamine, dimethoxydimethylsilane. The given concentration ranges show that these substances can be from approx. 30 to approx. 140%.

It seems that these substances (apart from the obvious solvents), under the influence of light and moisture from the air, create slowły a polymer coating when applied to the car body.