A glass flake coating can have many advantages over other types of coatings. Because there are so many tightly overlapping glass flakes in the coating, its ability to resist the permeation of gases and liquids is quite high relative to other types of coatings such as organic resin coatings. Another advantage of glass flake coatings are their ability to resist chemical attack because glass is not reactive to many types of aggressive chemicals. Glass flakes can also be used to improve the mechanical properties  of  a coating,  such as increasing the hardness and imparting some fire resistance.