Short wave leveling refers to the uniformity of the surface of the paint film, rather than the flatness of the paint film. Generally, poor short-wave leveling refers to the eddy marks left on the surface of the paint film due to the formation of the Benard vortex, which is manifested as the arrangement of hair flowers or matte powder in the paint or matte paint system. At this time the whole film is often flat. According to the physical principle of paint film drying, Benard vortex is often formed at the initial stage of solvent volatilization in paint film. Therefore, to eliminate Benard vortex, the leveling agent added must be required to migrate quickly to the surface of paint film at the initial stage, and maintain the uniformity of surface tension. This is the advantage of silicone leveling agent. Therefore, organosilicon leveling agent is more used to improve the short-wave leveling effect, so organosilicon leveling agent is often called surface control agent.

Long wave leveling refers to the flatness of the paint film. From the physical principle of paint film leveling, it is known that the time required for paint film to achieve complete leveling is inversely proportional to the size of surface tension, that is to say, the higher the surface tension, the stronger the power of leveling, the better the effect of leveling. Because the surface tension of acrylate leveling agent is higher than that of silicone leveling agent, acrylic leveling agent can provide better flat effect, that is, we say that the long wave leveling effect is good.

In the actual formulation design, silicone leveling agent and non-silicon leveling agent are often used together to achieve the ideal short-wave and long-wave leveling effect, so that the surface of the paint film is uniform and flat, so as to obtain the mirror effect.