Working Principle of Pigments

Posted by Evan Lu on December 22nd, 2022

A pigment is a material that has a certain color because it absorbs specific light wavelengths. Despite the fact that many materials have this feature, pigments with practical applications are stable at room temperature and have a high tinting strength, requiring little to no carrier or application to perceive the color. Fugitive pigments are those that either darken or fade with time or after prolonged contact to light.

A pigment is a material that is insoluble in its liquid carrier or is either dry. A suspension of a pigment occurs in a liquid. An alternative to a dye is one that either dissolves in a liquid to make a solution or is a liquid colorant. A soluble dye can occasionally precipitate into a metal salt pigment. A pigment created in this way from a dye is known as a lake pigment. Both dyes and pigments absorb light to give objects their desired color. Luminescence, in contrast, is the process through which a substance emits light.

How Pigments Work

Wavelengths of light are selectively absorbed by pigments. A pigment molecule can absorb white light by a variety of methods when it does so. Some organic pigments have double bond conjugated structures that absorb light. Light can be absorbed by inorganic pigments by electron transfer. The majority of the colors in white light are removed by charge-transfer complexes, which scatter or reflect the remaining light to make it appear as a certain color. Unlike luminous materials, pigments absorb or subtract wavelengths rather than adding to them.

The color of a pigment depends on the spectrum of the incident light. Because a distinct spectrum of wavelengths are left to be reflected or dispersed, a pigment, for instance, won't seem nearly the same hue under sunshine as it would under fluorescent lighting. The lab light color that was utilized to conduct the measurement must be mentioned when a pigment's color is depicted.

A pigment's color, saturation, and other characteristics are influenced by other substances that are added to goods with it, such as binders or fillers. For instance, the appearance of a paint hue you purchase will vary based on how the mixture was made. Depending on whether a pigment's final surface is glossy, matte, etc., it will seem differently.