What are the differences between pearlescent powder and traditional inorganic pigments

Compared with traditional optically absorbing organic and inorganic pigments and optically reflective metallic pigments, the color formation principle of pearlescent powder is completely different, and it is the main representative of optical interference pigments. After pearlescent powder is formulated into pearlescent ink, it not only produces pearlescent effect, but also maintains the original color tone, and brings a variety of metallic luster effects and iridescent luster effects.

Pearlescent powder is a kind of translucent tiny scale-like pigment that can produce pearlescent effect. There are natural pearlescent powder, synthetic pearlescent powder, composite pearlescent powder and compound coated pearlescent powder. Originally a natural product made from fish scales, it is rarely used because of the high cost of extracting pearlescent powder. Later, it began to use chemical methods to produce similar pigments with pearlescent effect and even brighter than fish scale products, such as synthetic pearl powder made of basic lead carbonate, bismuth oxychloride, etc., fatty acid ethylene glycol ester and fatty acid dioxane Composite pearl powder made by co-melting and crystallizing of alkyd amine, etc.

The compound-coated pearlescent powder has become the most commonly used pearlescent powder due to its rich colors, low cost and non-toxic suitability. It began to be researched and produced in the early 1950s, using the adsorption of metal compounds on the surface of non-metallic mica, and making the carrier form pearlescent color with the help of light refraction and diffraction. According to the thickness or material of the coating layer on the surface of the mica, the pearlescent powder will form various colors, such as rainbow type, silver white type, gold type and mica iron type. And produce multi-layer pearlescent powder covered with titanium dioxide and iron oxide mica flakes, titanium dioxide-coated mica wafers are the most widely used pearlescent powder today, this kind of pearlescent powder is different from other general pigments. It emits pearlescent light through the reflection and refraction of light. Each powder is about 31lm-150llm in different sizes. After these powders are classified by size, titanium dioxide is chemically coated on the surface of these powders to form a smooth, transparent, odorless wafer, which is reflected and refracted by light. The luster of pearl and the illusion of rainbow are dazzling. The color difference we see with the naked eye has a lot to do with the thickness of the titanium dioxide coating. If the thickness of the mica wafer is increased, the wafer will produce a variety of color effects, such as from soft silky white to dazzling rainbow colors.