Have you ever wondered what gives the t-shirt you
wear its jazzy colours or the leather shoes its shinning black or for
that matter the colour print out you have just taken from your printer.
Perhaps there would be a very few applications, where there would be no
use of the dyes. Constant researches done over the 20th century and
there after has resulted into every imaginable form of color of dye.
Modern dyes serves more than just being pretty. They have become
indispensable tools for a variety of industries. From acting as
colorants for plastics, Textile dyeing industries and the highly
sophisticated biotechnology industry dyes are touching our life
everywhere. Dyes are also used by industries for inks and tinting. Today
various dyes are manufactured to meet the requirements of each type of
industries. Dyes are available in various forms. Examples are dry
powders, granules, pastes, liquids, pellets, and chips.
Other industries where dyes are used in a variety of products include
paper and pulp, adhesives, art supplies, beverages, ceramics,
construction, cosmetics, food, glass, paints, polymers, soap, wax
biomedicine etc.
Dyes that cater to speciality industries often come with specialized
properties that include:
- Resistance to heat
- Resistance to weather conditions
- Resistance to ultraviolet light (UV)
- Some products are water soluble
- Conducts electricity
- Contain reinforcing fibers
- Free from heavy metals
Today the role and application of pigments have
increased manifolds. There would hardly be any industries left where
Pigments do not play any substantial role. The challenge is now to
discover pigments that are capable of not only long-lasting applications
but also are environmentally safe. A few of the important applications of
Pigments is given below.
Paints-
A diversified application in the whole gamut of paints that include
decorative and protective coatings, in paints that are oil and resin
based, automotive finishes, emulsion paints, distempers, aqueous based
paints like lime etc.
Printing
inks- Pigments are used in all kinds of printing inks, that
includes inks for printing metal foils, lacquers etc.
Pigment
finishes for leather and textiles: Coloration application for popular
textiles such as polyesters, nylon etc.
Colouration
of Plastics- Pigments are used in host of plastic applications that
includes poly vinyl chloride(PVC), rubber and synthetic polymers,
urea-formaldehyde(U-F) and melamine-formaldehyde moulding powders
polystyrene, nylons, polyfins, phenol-formaldehyde(P-F),
acrylonitrile-butadiene-styrene resins (ABS).
Colouratuon
of cement glass paints
Colours
for cosmetics
Colouration
for papers