Abstract
White pigments are used in most paints, plastics, and paper laminates because of their ability to not only lighten color, but also to provide full opacity. Although many particles are white in air, the opacifying ability of TiO2 is so much greater than the others that it is nearly always the white pigment used in these applications. The light scattering strength of TiO2 is very sensitive to a number of particle parameters, most importantly particle size and degree of dispersion, and so pigment producers must manufacture these particles to tight specifications. Once the particles are made, their surfaces must be modified to ensure optimal opacity performance as well as to improve other properties of the end-use material (for example, durability). This is typically done by depositing hydrous silica, hydrous alumina, an organic material, or some combination of the three onto the pigment surface. In this chapter, we discuss the processes of making the TiO2 particles and modifying their surfaces, as well as the effects that these modifications have on a number of important end-use properties. While TiO2 is the predominant white pigment, in certain applications, other materials, such as lithopone, zinc sulfide, and zinc oxide, are used. These applications fall into two classes—those that avoid TiO2 for cost reasons and those that avoid TiO2 because this material negatively affects a critical property of the intended application.
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Notes
- 1.
Except by a small reduction due to the slight dilution of the TiO2 by the surface modifier(s).
- 2.
This refers to expense on a coverage basis—that is, based on the cost to make a unit area of paint film or plastic opaque—rather than on a weight basis.
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Diebold, M., Backer, S.D., Niedenzu, P.M., Hester, B.R., Vanhecke, F.A.C. (2022). White Pigments. In: Pigments, Extenders, and Particles in Surface Coatings and Plastics. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-99083-1_7
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