Ultramarine Blue

Ultramarine blue is a blue pigment consisting primarily of a double silicate of aluminium and sodium with some sulfides or sulfites. The blue color of the pigment is due to the S*- radical anion, which contains an unpaired electron. It is produced by heating kaolin, sodium carbonate, sulphur and other inexpensive ingredients together. It is heat and alkali resistant.

Ultramarine Blue is a very safe, environmental friendly & non-hazardous blue pigment with multiple uses worldwide. Its synthetic manufacturing process and control over its physical, chemical, and color characteristics enables it in producing many other types of blue pigment, which are readily accepted by plastic, printing ink, paint, cement, soaps & detergents, paper and many other industries. It has excellent light-fastness and possesses an excellent heat stability up to **0°C, due to these advantages it is preferred over other organic pigments and dyes.
 

Ultramarine Blue is widely used in various industries.

Due to its multifarious advantages and manifold usages, Ultramarine Pigment is used in diverse industries to function in many applications, such as: 

Inks :

• Ultramarine Blue is a suitable pigment for use in inks due to its inorganic nature. It shows good wettability in water systems and good resistance to organic solvents. Due to its many characteristics properties such as good light resistance and low oil absorption it is used in different types of inks e.g. Flexographic.

Paints :

• Ultramarine Blue is widely used in a variety of paints for Oil Paints, Water and Acrylic Paints, Water-based Emulsion Paints etc. It provides a bluish undertone, while providing uniformity in the composition. Ultramarine Blue pigment displays high fastness to alkalis, air, light, water, detergents and organic solvents.

Masterbatch :

• Ultramarine blue has non-shrinking, non-warping properties, along with its exceptional heat and light stability, it has led to the development of a range of high quality pigments specifically for masterbatch applications. This pigment is widely used in applications that require improved appearance in brightness, transparency, and surface smoothness. The color masterbatch also provides improved mechanical properties preferred for manufacturing of thin films, pressure pipes, fibres, bottles, etc.

Surface Coating :

• Ultramarine Blue pigment is used in surface coating. It occupies a unique position in the blue color space that can not be achieved by any other pigment or blend of pigments. Its reddish undertone is highly appreciated in both mass tone and tint applications in surface coating. This makes the pigment clearly differentiated from any Blue Phthalocyanine and any Cobalt Blue, even if they are in combination with organic violet pigments.

Paper :

• Ultramarine Blue is extensively used for the whitening of cellulose pulp and the coloration of the outside coating on colored and stucco papers. It is used as blue pigment or as filler shade correctors because in paper coating treatment, high dose levels of pigments and white fillers are used. A blend of Ultramarine Blue and a optical whitener is used to achieve optical whitening especially under a light which is rich in ultraviolet rays. It can be easily eliminated with waste water & has no contaminant risks. Moreover, it is environmental friendly, which is an added advantage in the Paper industry.

Plastic & Rubber :

• Ultramarine Pigments has non-shrinking, non-warping properties, due to these it maintain the dimensional stability of polyolefins and other polymers. It is compatible and suitable for all kind of polymers, such as polyolefins, rubber polymers and more. It is not only used to provide the reddish blue shade or to whiten polymers, but also to provide a blue undertone to gray and black plastic parts.

Soaps, Detergents, Toiletries & Cosmetics

• Ultramarine Pigment is used in various types of toiletries formulations such as: shampoos, soaps, gels, etc. It has a unique reddish blue shade and possess high tinting strength, which makes the product non staining in final use. In cosmetics, it is valued for its brightness and non-irritability characteristic and also has very low levels of any impurity. Few examples of fields of application are eye shadows, face powders and artistic make-ups.

Cement and Construction Industry :

• The coloration of cement or any formulation is based on nature of cement such as mortars, concrete, tiles joints. With Ultramarine Pigments the coloration is possible only under controlled conditions of formulation and use. Ultramarine Blue is widely used in house roof coatings preparations that is colored with blue.

Artist's Colors Industry

• Ultramarine blue is widely used in oil colors, fat pencils, modeling pastes, water colors, acrylic colors and many more. Its non-staining property contribute a great deal in it's success in the artists' colors industry.

 

“Laundry blue" is a solution of synthetic ultramarine that is widely used to improve the appearance of textiles, especially white fabrics. White fabrics acquire a slight color cast after use. Since blue and yellow are complementary colors in the subtractive color model of color perception, adding a trace of blue color to the slightly off-white color of these fabrics makes them appear whiter.

Ultramarine blue is the most commonly used laundry blue. It gives a violet blue color and makes a fine powder and thus becomes a suitable blue for laundry. It is safe to use as it is not harmful to the fabrics. Bluing is to be done only when the fabric is free from soap or detergent used for washing the cloth. Ultramarine blue being not insoluble in water, the coloring matter is held in suspension, and so the water must be stirred each time before use.