Highly targeted color spaces with made-to-measure iron oxide pigments

 
Approximately 1 million tons of iron oxide are processed per year as colorants in the coatings, plastics, and construction industries. Despite their long history as coloring agents and major manufacturing breakthroughs within the last century, the coloristic potentials of iron oxides have not been fully exploited, to date. Recent innovations focus on expansion of the current iron oxide red color range to include pigments of higher chroma than those currently available in the market. The chromaticity of inorganic pigments is determined by the complex relationship between particle size and shape, dopants, particle size distribution and dispersibility within the matrix material. A novel production procedure is presented which yields particles of uniform size distribution, whereby the color can be precisely adjusted by targeted parameter control.