Use Hydrochromic Materials Technology Change World

Home > Color Shifting Technologies > Hydrochromic

Hydrochromic Material Examples

Water color changing toys

Hydrochromic Umbrella

Hydrochromic ink

Hydrochromic Paints

Hydrochromic Packaging

Hydrochromic Fabric

Hydrochromic Cosmetics

Hydrochromic Art

Hydrochromic Pigment Materials

Hydrochromic Chameleon powder

Green Hydrochromic pigment powder

Blue Hydrochromic pigment powder

Red Hydrochromic pigment powder

White Hydrochromic pigment powder

1. The Description of Hydrochromic Material

The hydrochromic material is a kind of material that, when contacted with water or drenched in water, will change color. The principle of this material is to realize color change through the change of physical structure and chemical reaction. The material are often used in the area of humidity test, children toys and anti-counterfeiting identification, ect. Here below, we will talk about its application sectors, principles and categories in detail.

First, there are two types of hydrochromic material, physically color-changing material and chemically color-changing material. First of all, we will talk about physically color-changing material. This kind of material can undergo color change when its physical structure changes after being influenced by water molecule. There are two types of common used physically color-changing materials: photosensitive materials and thermosensitive materials. Second, we will talk about chemically color-changing material. This kind of material can undergo color change when the material contacts with water and undergo chemical reaction. There are two types of common used chemically color-changing materials: dissolution-based and ion-exchange types.

Second, the material are often used in the area of humidity test, children toys and anti-counterfeiting identification, ect. In the area of humidity test, this kind of material can denote the humidity of the environment via the change of color, facilitating people to control and monitor the humidity. They can be used in products such as humidity indicator card and hygrometer. In the area of children toys, this kind of material can present rich color when brushed with water or water pen. This material enhances children’s creativity and fun. It is commonly used in the products of painting toys or color books. In the area of anti-counterfeiting identification, this kind of material can change color once it contact water, so as to prevent forgery. This kind of material can be used in the area of important documents such as tickets and documents.

2. Hydrochromic Coating

Hydrochromic coating is a kind of special coating that is usually used in the sectors of anti-counterfeiting, decoration coating, anti-water coating. It can change color once contacting with water. It is also referred to as color-changing paints and wet-sensitive coatings.

Hydrochromic coating’s working principle lies in its mechanism of solvent separation and pigment. First, let’s talk about the pigment. It is compatible with other elements of pigment but it is not soluble in water. We can dd this kind of pigment in the coatings. When the coating contacts with water, the water will infiltrate into the coating and separate the pigment from the coating, thus leading to the change of the color. This kind of coating can be used in the area of toys, anti-counterfeiting and designs.

However, this material also has its limitations, For example, the color range of this material is relatively narrow, which will make it unable to meet some requirements for special design. Besides, the separation between the coating and pigment is a kind of reversible reaction, therefore, the color will revert back to its original state when the water is evaporated.

The advantage and disadvantage of the hydrochromic coating

Advantage:

It is easy to detect problems. This kind of material can help people to detect whether there is dampness water leaks in the ceilings, walls, pipes, ect. It can help people to quickly discover the problems and address the problems.
It is good for anti-counterfeiting. This kind of material has unique color-changing mechanism. It can provide effective anti-counterfeiting guarantee for some special application.
It provides fun for children. This kind of material can be used as toys. Childrencan experience the fun by observing the change of color. This can enhance their creativity and spirit of exploration.

Disadvantages:

It performs poorly regarding to the repeated color change performance. The separation between the pigments and coating of hydrochromic coating is a kind of reversible reaction. The color will revert to its original state when the surface of the coating dries up. This material can not change color permanently so its repeated color change performance is poor.
Its application scenario is limited. It may not satisfy certain special design requirements as the color range of hydrochromic coating is rather narrow.
Its service period is short. Hydrochromic coating requires much to the factors such as humidity, environmental temperature, so it is not suitable in extreme environment. This kind of material needs to be changed frequently, which will add cost. The disadvantages then lead to its short service life.

3. Hydrochromic Ink

Hydrochromic Ink is a kind of white, paste-like water-featured ink. Its color will turn from white to transparent when contacting with water. Therefore, it is also called water-reactive ink, water-reveal ink, water-to-transparent ink. The color of letters or graphs printed by this ink can revert back to be transparent when contacting with water. Successively, the ink will reveal the underlying color. After the letters or graphs dries up, the ink will revert to its original state. The water-sensitive ink is extensively used in anti-counterfeiting sectors, such as passports, ID cards, contracts of insurance, financial documents. This article will mainly focus on the principle and application of this material.
Principle

The principle of water-sensitive ink is based on chemical reaction. The commonly used chemical substance for water-sensitive ink phenolphthalein or sodium phenolphthalein. These chemical substance will undergo chemical reaction when contacting with water, thus leading to the change of color. But they are light and transparent in color when they are dry. The chemical reaction of this kind of substance is related to the acid-base neutralization. It will turns to be apparent darker when in a neutral or alkaline environment but will turn be light or transparent when in an acidic environment.

Application

Water-sensitive inks are extensively used in many sectors. For example, they can prevent counterfeiting and forgery for some important documents, such passports and ID cards. They can also be used to prevent from using a water pen to do unauthorized transactions for cards, such as credit cards and debit cards. What’s more, in its application on checks, it can prevent people to temper the receipts information or amount using water pen.

4. Hydrochromic Umbrellas

There are mainly two types of materials for hydrochromic umbrellas:

1. The first one is thermochromic coating material that is soluble in organic solvents. Commonly made with carbonate ester materials as substrate, the color of this coating material will turn from transparent to colorful under certain circumstances. During rainy days, its surface will absorb water. Its color will turn from transparent to colorful when the temperature of the rain exceed certain threshold.

The second one is organic colloid thermochromic material. The material is made with color transfer agents, auxiliaries, solvents, polymer materials, ect. An umbrellas which is made by this kind of material will present vivid color-changing effect when contacting with water. When this material is exposed to the water, its color will immediately change. Thisprocess will display a magic color-changing effect.

Hydrochromic umbrellas is widely used by people. It is a patented technology. It has some advantages compared with other kinds of umbrellas. For example, its price is acceptable to consumers; it has sound water-resistance performance, which can maintain color-changing effect even being used for many times; its color change is vivid and significant.

All in all, hydrochromic materials has extensive application prospect in the sector of humidity tests, children’s toys and anti-counterfeiting identification. It is a kind of material with special function. As technology continues to develop, we believe that hydrochromic materials will be applied in more sectors, bringing fun and convenience to people’s daily life.