How does the matting mechanism work?

The matting effect basically lies on light scattering principle.

When a light beam is projected onto a surface, depending on substrate roughness and properties, a part will be reflected making surface gloss appearance whilst the other part will be absorbed or scattered by pigment and the substrate forming matting effect.

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In Paints & Coatings industry, when added to liquid paints formulations, matting additive forms a micro-roughness shrinked film surface after solvent or water dried out and evaporated.

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As a result, the surface diffuses the light, reduces gloss index and produces a matting effect.