TDS and SDS are not the same document
The Technical Data Sheet tells you how to use the product: what to mix it with, in what ratio, how long you have, how many coats, how long between them, and what the film should measure when you are done. It is a process document.
The Safety Data Sheet tells you how the product can hurt you and what to do about it: the hazards, the protective equipment, first aid, spill response, storage and disposal. It is a safety document.
A TDS will not tell you which respirator cartridge to wear. An SDS will not tell you your recoat window. Working techs need both open, and a shop that files only one of them is missing half the information.
The numbers on a TDS, in the order you use them
- Mix ratio. Written as parts, such as 4:1 or 4:1:1. The first number is always the product itself, then hardener or activator, then reducer. Get the order backwards and you have mixed a different material.
- Induction time. The wait after mixing and before spraying, if the product calls for one. Spraying early is a real defect source and it is invisible until the finish tells on you.
- Pot life. How long the mixed material stays usable. It shortens as shop temperature rises, which is why the sheet gives it against a temperature.
- Flash time. The wait between coats. Too short traps solvent and gives you dieback or solvent pop. This is the number people guess at most often.
- Recoat window. The span in which the next product can go on without extra preparation. Miss the top end and the sheet will tell you to scuff before continuing.
- Film build. How thick the finished coating should be, usually in mils or microns. This is the number that decides whether you applied the product or merely covered the panel.
- Gun setup and pressure. Tip size and inlet pressure. A sheet written for one tip size does not transfer to another without changing how the material lays down.
- Temperature range. Every number above is stated at a reference temperature. A cold shop lengthens flash and cure, a hot shop shortens pot life.
An SDS has sixteen sections. You work from four.
The sixteen section format is standardized, so once you can navigate one sheet you can navigate all of them. In daily shop use, four sections carry almost everything you need:
- Section 2, Hazard identification. What this product does to a person, in plain language, with the pictograms and signal word.
- Section 8, Exposure controls and personal protection. The section that names the actual protective equipment, including respirator type and glove material. This is where PPE decisions come from, not from habit.
- Section 4, First aid measures. What to do in the first minute, before anyone looks anything up.
- Section 6, Accidental release. How to contain and clean a spill without making it worse.
Read them in that order, 2 then 8 then 4 then 6, and you have covered the exposure, the protection, the response and the cleanup.
Pictograms: nine exist, eight are required
The GHS system defines nine hazard pictograms, the red bordered diamonds you see on the label and in section 2. OSHA requires eight of them on workplace labels in the United States. The ninth, the environment pictogram, sits outside OSHA's authority, which is why a compliant label may show eight while the global standard lists nine.
The count is worth knowing because it turns up as a test question, but the working point is simpler: the number of pictograms on a container is a fact about the product, not decoration. A solvent wipe and a two component adhesive carry different diamonds because they hurt you in different ways.
One rule that catches people out: an unlabeled container has no hazard information at all, so it cannot be used. If material has been decanted into an unmarked cup or bottle, it gets labeled or it gets disposed of.
Check the revision date before you trust the sheet
Both documents get revised. Manufacturers reformulate, regulations change, and a sheet printed two years ago may no longer describe what is in the can on your shelf.
Always open the sheet from the manufacturer's own site rather than from a folder of printouts, and check the revision date against the product you are holding. This is exactly why every link on this page points at the maker's own current document instead of a copy hosted here.
If the label on the container and the sheet disagree, stop and resolve it before you mix. The container may be an older formulation, or the sheet may be for a different regional version of the same product name.
What your shop is required to keep
Under hazard communication rules, an employer has to keep safety data sheets available to every employee, during every shift, without asking permission. Available means a person can get to it in the moment they need it, not that it exists somewhere in a locked office.
Practically, that means a maintained binder or a screen on the floor, a current inventory of the products actually in the building, and training so people can find section 8 without help. A binder nobody can locate does not satisfy the requirement and, more to the point, does not help the person who just got something in their eye.