Today's aluminum Pigments

摘要

Dveloping unusual effects with unique appearance and glamorous colors has never been easier due to the wide variety of special effect pigments the market today.Designers can choose from dramatic color shifts to the more subtle,and increasingly popular,metallic colors found on everything automobiles,appliances,and electronic components,to many general industrial,ink,and plastic applications.By far the most utilitarian a pop-pigment for special effect aesthetics has been aluminum.Its popularity played a major role in color trends throughout the past 60 years,and been a dominant pigment in the color palette for the last three years.The millennium color,"silver"not only imparts a feeling of richness,but also technical precision,and its popularity is expected to continue into the foreseeable future.Aluminum pigments are not new,and in fact have been formulated into coatings,ink,and plastic applications for many years.Originally designed as a protective pigment,leafing grades were applied to steel structures to provide barrier protection.As aluminum pigment technology grew,it soon became apparent that unique effects could be achieved if the pigment were"deleafed."This allows the flake to reside within the film matrix,rather than at or near the surface,creating a whole new color space with which designers can work.Polychromatic or metallescent colors provided exciting new ways to market anything that could be painted,or coated.Designers from all parts of the color world quickly acknowledged the aesthetic appeal and began to use nonleafing aluminum pigments.