Innovative IR Black Pigments

Creating a Solution to a Problem

When the laser was first invented in the 1960s, it was more of an experiment to validate some of Einstein’s theories. At first, it was called a ‘solution in search of a problem’- but did it ever find problems to solve! Modern life wouldn’t be possible without lasers. Similarly, pigments with interesting properties, such as Shepherd Color’s Arctic® infrared reflective pigments continue to be solutions to new problems and show that high-performance inorganic pigments have a lot of utility left in them.

PVC siding became popular in the 1970s and 80s, but a problem occurred when darker colors were offered. Normal pigments like carbon black used to make these darker colors would lead to heat deformation of the PVC siding. Normal black pigments absorb in the visible but also absorb in the invisible infrared region. Since roughly half of the sun’s energy is in the invisible infrared, reflecting it away didn’t affect color, but reduced the amount of the sun’s energy absorbed and kept the PVC cooler and not deforming. Shepherd Color pigments IR reflectivity helped with dimensional stability, and the low-soluble iron of the pigments helped with chemical stability. These pigments have gone through multiple generational improvements, increasing the IR reflectivity and visible tint strength, and lowering colorant usage rates. Currently, our Yellow 10P248 (PBr24), Brown 10P850 (PY164), Black 10G996 (PBr29) and Black 10P950 (PBr29) are the premier products for coloring rigid PVC profiles and extrusions.

IR Pigments Prevent Warping of PVC Profiles

Urban Heat Islands

There was another problem that IR pigments used in building products could address. Cities faced the related problems of Urban Heat Island and peak energy demand from afternoon air conditioning usage. Around the year 2000, the IR reflective properties were shifted from the siding on buildings to the roof for Cool Roof programs like the EPA Energy Star program. While the pigments used were still IR reflective, the key pigment properties changed from tinting whites towards aesthetically pleasing dark masstone colors. Steep-slope roofing on residential houses dark in color but previously IR absorbing. Shepherd’s IR black pigments kept the dark colors, but increased the solar reflectance by 5x. To help people appreciate this invisible but important change, Shepherd Color launched the Arctic brand of IR reflective pigments. The key products to use are jet IR Blacks like Arctic Black 10G975, and for coatings the easily dispersed Arctic Dynamix® Black 30C940.

FDA Authorized Recyclable Plastics

Now back to Einstein’s theory to the laser being a solution to a problem…the latest problem that IR reflective pigments have solved is the sortability of black plastics, especially food trays. Standard carbon black absorbs IR and ‘blinds’ the IR sorting machines in recycling facilities as to the identity of the plastics. The IR Black pigments don’t absorb in the infrared wavelengths, so the IR sorters can detect and segregate the plastics into the correct categories. This increases the value of the recycle stream and improves the sustainability of plastics in general. Shepherd has launched FDA authorized Arctic Black 10F925 and for color tinted materials, Arctic Black 10F951.

Arctic IR pigments have leveraged their visible color and invisible infrared properties time and again to solve new problems. What problem can you use your laser like focus on to solve with Shepherd Color Arctic IR pigments?