Latest Pigment Stories

The specialty chemicals Group ALTANA (Pink Sheets:AAAGY)(FWB:ALT)(GER:ALT) has signed a contract to acquire the effect pigment business of the American company United States Bronze Powders Inc. (USBP). In 2007, USBP achieved sales of approximately $8 million in this business area. USBP retains its powder business as well as its aluminum pigments business. Within the ALTANA Group, the acquired business will be integrated into the ECKART Effect Pigments division, a leading manufacturer of...

By Anonymous A new range of pearlescent pigments has anti-yellowing properties. Xymara XPS pigments from Ciba Specialty Chemicals, Tarrytown, N.Y., are aimed at cosmetics bottles, jars, and containers. Conventional mica-based pearl pigments tend to cause yellowing of plastics after exposure to light, but Ciba's stabilizing surface treatment inhibits yellowing. The two initial products are SilverPearl XPSl9, which gives a white satin luster, and SilverPearl XPS23, which combines the satin...

Reportlinker.com announces that a new market research report related to the Chemicals industry industry is available in its catalogue. World Selenium Market http://www.reportlinker.com/p090610/World-Selenium-Market.html This report analyzes the worldwide markets for Selenium in Metric Tons. The specific end-use segments analyzed are Glass Manufacturing, Metallurgy, Chemicals, Electronics, Pigments, and Others including Agricultural Feeds. The report provides separate comprehensive...

By Naitove, Matthew H BELOW Impact modifiers and processing aids for PLA comprise Arkema's new Biostrength family of additives for biopolymers. Among the host of new additives at K 2007 were a number of unusual entries: additives to add scratch resistance or reduce odor, leaps ahead in PP clarifying, specialized antioxidant protection for nanocomposites, a growth enhancer for greenhouse films, and a naturally free-flowing TiO2. In addition, "Green" was the theme of exhibits that highlighted...

From medicine to make-up, plastics to paper - hardly a day goes by when we don't use titanium dioxide.Now researchers at the University of Leeds have developed a simpler, cheaper and greener method of extracting higher yields of one of this most useful and versatile of minerals.In powder form titanium dioxide (TiO2) is widely used as an intensely white pigment to brighten everyday products such as paint, paper, plastics, food, medicines, ceramics, cosmetics - and even toothpaste. Its...

Ancient Mayan temple builders discovered and used lustrous pigments to make their buildings dazzle in the daylight, a Queensland University of Technology researcher has discovered.Studying tiny shards of paint from the Mayan city of Copan, Queensland University of Technology (QUT) physical and chemical sciences PhD researcher Rosemary Goodall found evidence of mica that would have made the buildings glitter when hit by the sun.Ms Goodall said the mica was applied over the red paint of stucco...

Vision, like other biological attributes, is shaped by evolution through environmental pressures and demands, and even closely-related species that are in other ways very similar might respond to their particular environments by interpreting the visual world slightly differently, using photoreceptors that are attuned to particular wavelengths of light. By studying a special group of closely-related fish species inhabiting the Great Lakes of Africa, researchers have uncovered clues to...

WASHINGTON, D.C. -- A Duke University chemist has found differences in how ultraviolet light affects the photochemistry of human pigments that he says may explain why red-haired people are more prone to skin cancer than those with black hair.Duke chemistry professor John Simon and his collaborators used a broadly-tunable ultraviolet laser and a special microscope to distinguish between the oxidation potentials of pigments of redheaded and black-haired people. Oxidation potentials measure how...

WASHINGTON -- How did paintings by Tintoretto and other Venetian Renaissance artists get their special glow? Using an electron microscope, Barbara Berrie, senior conservation scientist at the National Gallery of Art, discovered one of their secrets: tiny bits of glass the artists mixed with their pigments."By looking beyond the limits of their usual practice and transforming materials from other trades to their painting, the great artists of the Renaissance created a palette that gave...

LONDON (Reuters) - Roses are red, cornflowers are blue and after nearly a century of trying, scientists say they have worked out why. As early as 1913, scientists found that the pigment in roses which makes them red also occurs in cornflowers and was thought to be responsible for making them blue. The discovery was puzzling because the pigment is not found in other blue flowers. Now, researchers at Gakugei University in Tokyo say they have worked out the molecular structure of the pigment...