Water-based paints can be used for longitudinal lines applied by larger truck-based machines, or for application by smaller or pedestrian-controlled machines.

EKC AB and Trysil Maskin A/S have built one of the largest truck-based machines for high-pressure airless application of paint. The vehicle can carry 6000 l of paint and 3000 kg of glass beads. The paint is heated to 45 °C and sprayed at a pressure of 140 bar.

The vehicle can paint a solid 30 cm wide line at a speed of 25 kph. Transverse markings such as symbols and pedestrian crossings can be applied by manual spraying with stencils, although this is unusual as such markings normally receive the most wear.

Water-based paint is used for road markings where traffic is lighter, or for applications not exposed to high wear with much crossing traffic.

The benefits of water-based paints for road marking are:

• Very short drying time. Can be driven over after two minutes
• Low application costs-highly cost-efficient on suitable road areas
• High retroreflection performance
• Can be heated to 60 °C, which provides suitable application viscosity regardless of ambient temperature
• Very fast start-up times for the application machines
• Low environmental impact: max. 2 % WOC
• No health hazard to workers. See materials data sheet (MSDF)