Before understanding the characteristics of pearlescent coatings, let's first understand what pearlescent coatings are.
What is Pearlescent Coating? (What is Pearlescent paint?)
Pearlescent coatings are a special type of decorative coating containing pearlescent pigments on a mica or glass substrate. When light shines on the surface of the pearlescent coating, these flake-like pigments undergo multiple reflections and refractions, producing a soft, shimmering pearl-like luster or a bright metallic texture. This effect stems from its unique light interference phenomenon, rather than the simple absorption and reflection of light by traditional pigments. Besides its aesthetic appeal, iSuoChem pearlescent coatings also possess weather-resistant and environmentally friendly properties. The unique luster variation effect of pearlescent coatings, made with pearlescent pigments, is unmatched by conventional coatings.
Now, let's get to the main point:
What are the Characteristics of Pearlescent Coatings?
1. Unique pearlescent luster: Pearlescent coatings can have a fine, soft pearlescent luster or a bright, shimmering metallic appearance.
2. Angle-dependent color effect: Different interference colors can be seen depending on the viewing angle, also known as a polychromatic effect. The strength of this effect depends on both the pigment flake size and TiO2 coverage, as well as the properties of the paint itself.
3. Color Transfer and Color Variation: Continuous coatings using interference-color holographic pearlescent pigments or colored holographic pearlescent pigments can simultaneously display two or more different interference colors. Pearlescent topcoats for automobiles made with these pigments will show their interference colors changing with the curvature of the car body, i.e., changing from a primary color to its complementary color.
4. Three-Dimensional Texture of the Coating: Due to the multiple reflections and transmissions of light by pearlescent pigments, even a very thin coating (15-40µm) will appear as a thick film.
5. Color Enhancement and Additional Color Effect: Pearlescent pigments exhibit color enhancement properties, meaning that when mixed with conventional transparent organic pigments, they can achieve a vibrant additional color effect, fully utilizing the original optical properties. A fatal weakness of conventional metallic pigments is that when mixed with organic pigments and then incorporated into resins, their color saturation is significantly reduced, resulting in a dull paint film and making color matching difficult. Pearlescent pigments have a stable polycrystalline titanium dioxide film on their surface, exhibiting good chemical stability and not reacting with resins, solvents, or other additives.
6. Background Contrast Effect: Because pearlescent pigments are transparent or semi-transparent, their hiding power is far less than that of metallic pigments. However, this characteristic makes them more adaptable and flexible in the coatings industry. For example, pearlescent pigments can achieve a decorative effect using the color of the base coat, while metallic pigments cannot. Specifically, pearlescent pigments are mixed with transparent resin without coloring to create a pearlescent clear topcoat, which is then applied directly to a conventional base coat (wet-on-wet). This allows the vibrant color of the base coat to show through the transparent topcoat. This is called the transparency contrast effect.
Compared to conventional coatings, pearlescent coatings also have the following characteristics:
1. Safety and environmental friendliness: The process of mixing metallic pigments with solid resins to manufacture powder coatings poses a risk of fire and explosion. Pearlescent pigments have high chemical stability and will not react chemically with free acid ions in resins or solvents to produce hydrogen gas, unlike metallic pigments. They also will not generate static charge that clogs the spray gun nozzle during electrostatic spraying.
2. Convenient application: Pearlescent coatings can be applied using various conventional methods, such as brushing, dip coating, roller coating, compressed air spraying, and electrostatic spraying, with roller coating and spraying being particularly suitable.
Note: Please Contact iSuoChem Pearlescent coating/Pearlescent pigment supplier to get sample for test (USD$0 for testing)
FAQ
Q1: What is pearlescent pigment made of?
Pearlescent pigments are special pigments made by coating mica sheets with thin layers of metal oxides (Including: titanium dioxide TiO2 or iron oxide). Their unique layered structure produces interference light, thus bringing soft, interfering, shimmering, or differently colored pearlescent effects to industries such as coatings, inks, plastics, and cosmetics.
Q2: Is pearlescent paint more expensive?
The price difference between pearlescent paints/coatings made from different series of pearlescent pigments is quite different.
Cheap options, such as silver white pearlescent pigments, produce ultra-white, ultra-bright, or soft pearlescent effects like pearlescent white and polar white. Our newly launched silver white series is priced lower than ME100 on the market, yet offers better brightness and whiteness.
Q3: What does pearlescent paint look like?
Pearlescent paint has a soft(warm), deep, shimmering luster like pearls. Besides, its color changes with the viewing angle, exhibiting a variety of interference colors.
Q4: What color is pearlescent?
Pearlescent has silver white, gold, colored(Red, orange, yellow, green, blue, purple and others), mica iron red, interference, chameleon, and other series of colors.
Q5: What colors work well with pearlescent paint?
This is a difficult question to answer. It mainly depends on different market demands. Some markets prefer neutral colors like beige, white, and gray, while some clients have reported that their markets prefer soft pastel shades like light blue and blush. Additionally, based on our past sales experience, using a dark base coat such as black, navy blue, or deep red can better highlight the pearlescent sheen for a more pronounced effect.
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