Specialised Pigments.

Over the years United Colour has been involved in many research projects, some of which have been very successful and have created some very unique and specialised products.

Listed below is just a small selection of such products that have now become main stream requirements within a cross section of industry.

Metallic Pigments.
The metallic pigment range is suitable for all RCF, vermiculite and ceramic substrate requirements. Metallic pigments are predominately sold a as gel or dry pigment by the gram or millilitre. The colour range available is silver, gold, ruby, bronze, transparent. Each of these effects can be cross blended with any of our standard pigments to create endless shades and tones.
To complement the metallic range a single flipflop© pigment was created. This pigment displays silver purple and green tones when moved or passed across any light source.

Ultra Violet Pigments.
United Colour have launched their new range of Ultra Violet pigments; Commercial known as ElectraGlow©.

The ElectraGlow© range of pigments are compositionally a pigmented melamine, sulphonamide, formaldehyde copolymer.
ElectraGlow© pigments are predominately sold a as gel or dry pigment by the gram or millilitre. The colour range available is Flame orange, Aurora Pink, Rocket Red, Saturn Yellow, and Invisible Blue (not seen in standard light).

This range has been exclusively developed for the use on Calcium Sulphate Hemihydrates (Plaster of Paris, CaSO4 • ½H2O) or other chemical forms of calcium sulphate (gypsum, CaSO4 • 2H2O).

To fully benefit from the designed effect of the ElectraGlow© pigment range the use of a fluorescent black light or UV(a) LED is required.

Fluorescent black lights are typically made in the same fashion as normal fluorescent lights except that only one phosphor is used and the normally clear glass envelope of the bulb is replaced by a deep-bluish-purple glass called woods glass, a nickel oxide, cobalt oxide doped glass, which blocks almost all visible light above 400 nanometres. The colour of such lamps is often referred to as black light.

The phosphor typically used for a near 368 to 371 manometer emission peak is either europium doped strontium fluroborate (SrB4O7F • Eu2) or europium doped strontium borate (SrB4O7 • Eu2) while the phosphor used to produce a peak around 350 to 353 nanometres is lead doped barium silicate (BaSi2O5 • Pb). Black light lamps tend to peak at 365nm.

A black light may also be formed by simply using woods glass instead of clear glass as the envelope for a common incandescent bulb. This was the method used to create the very first black light sources. Although this method remains a cheaper alternative to the fluorescent method the emitted UV light is much weaker, often only a few lumens per watt. Incandescent UV bulbs, due to their inefficiency become extremely hot after only a short period of use.

After much internal research and experimentation we have found that certain lamps referred to as simply black light have a different spectrum with much stronger visible white light emissions, these lamps tend to be seen in sun beds and fly killing units. They appear a very light blue to the human eye and are far less effective when used with the ElectraGlow© product.
The Ultraviolet radiation itself is invisible to the human eye, but illuminating the ElectraGlow© pigment with UV(a) radiation prompts the rapid visible effects of fluorescence and phosphorescence.

Oven Colours.
Oven Colours are an increasing popular way to decorate table and glass ware for a short period of time, ideal for children and child events.
The range comprises of five colours, Pillar Box Red, Sun Yellow, Marine Blue, Pro Black and Mixing White. The range is fully intermixable, totally organic, water based and non toxic. Basic application is by the use of a brush or sponge. Once decoration is complete allow the piece to air dry, then bake in a domestic oven for 40 minutes at 165ºc or gas mark 2.
To remove the decoration and return the table or glass ware to its original state, soak in hot soapy water or pass twice through a standard dish washer cycle.

Speckle Effect Pigments.
Speckle effect pigments have been developed mainly for use in the domestic fire industry. In the past the only method of achieving a speckled pebble or RCF shape was by either the spatter or brush flick technique. This method of application was always found to very time consuming, wasteful and often very inconsistent from shape to shape.
United Colour has developed a complete range of pigments offering an unlimited colour pallet of shade and tonal variants, all of which can be set up as speckle pigments.

The method of application is by dipping the article in to the agitated pigment. Once complete the next stage is drying.
The base coat and speckle is all applied and created in one dip application. The speckle effect is found 360º around the shape and remains the same size and intensity from the start of the batch to the end.

United Colour Limited offer a free Research & Development service for both standard colour matching’s too the more involved development projects.

If you feel your requirements for a pigment or coating exists but the product can not be sourced please feel free to speak with us.