Use Luminous Materials Technology Color Life

Home > Color Shifting Technologies > Luminous

Luminous Material Examples

Automotive-and-Bicycle-Accessories

Camping-and-Outdoor-Gear

Clothing-and-Accessories

Decorative-Objects-and-Artwork

Educational-Tools-and-Science-Projects

Firefly-Simulations

Fishing-Lures-and-Tackle

Glow-in-the-Dark-Parties-and-Events

Nail-Art

Nighttime-Outdoor-Markings

Party-Decorations

Safety-Gear-and-Equipment

Security-and-Counterfeit-Detection

Security-Printing

Theater-and-Stage-Effects

Toys-and-Games

Luminous Pigment Materials

yellow-green-lyg-01

sky-blue-lsb-02

blue-green-lbg-03

purplr-red-lpr-04

red-lr-05

yellow-ly-06

rose-red-lrr-07

white-lw-08

purple-lp-09

1. Luminous Materials Technology banner

There are two mechanism for the principle of luminous material material: fluorescence and phosphorescence.

First, let’s talk about fluorescence. The fluorescent substance in luminous material will absorb the energy from light source and can undergo stimulation when absorbing energy. The luminous mechanism of fluorescence is to absorb exterior energy from light source and then emit energy to generate light. The energy of the stimulated state during this process can emit out in the way of fluorescence after a certain period. That is how the luminous effect comes.

Second, we will come to the phosphorescence. The light can stimulate the electrons in the phosphorescent materials, thus enabling the electrons to transfer to a higher level. After this process, the electron gradually returns back to its original state and release out continuous light. The lumination generated under this mechanism can last for a longer time than that of fluorescence. It is because that the time for phosphorescence is longer and the range is broader.

Whether it is fluorescence or phosphorescence, a certain energy is needed to stimulate luminous effect. To luminous material, the most common exterior energy source is the natural light in daytime and from sunlight. They can provide sufficient energy for the materials to emit light. When the light from exterior environment gradually wane or disappear, the energy stimulated from the luminous material will continuously release in the way of lumination. Thus, we can see the luminous effect although in darkness.

But as time passes, the luminescence will grow thinner as the energy in the material will gradually run out. We need to re-stimulate new material in order to keep long-lasting luminescence of the luminous materials. The materials need to absorb energy from the light source once again. That can explain why the luminous materials need to be exposed to a light environment when they get charged.

2. The Way for Luminous Powder to Generate Luminescence

Luminous is a kind of material that can automatically emit light in the dark. There are three kinds of elements of this kind of material.

Long-lasting luminous powder (rare earth luminous powder)

Chemical elements: mixture of AL203.Sr0.Eu203.Dy203.B203.si02

Product characteristics: It can display sound luminescence effect only when it is exposed to strong light for a long time. Its residual light can last for a long time, up to more than ten hours. As this kind of material can emit strong light and the light can last for a long time, therefore, it is practical. Except for being used as a means of decoration, it is also widely used in sectors, such as electrical equipment, military, firefighting and security, ect.

Regular luminous powder: this power is yellow in it appearance. The corresponding luminescence colors are respectively sky-blue light, blue-green light, yellow-green light. Among which, the one with best luminescence effect is yellow-green light, followed by the blue-green light. The long-lasting luminous light has many segments based on the particle diameter and level of light intensity.

Colorful luminous powder: This kind of powder belongs to a derivative of regular luminous powder. It is produced by adding fluorescence pigment in the regular luminous powder. The color of the appearance will be changed after adding color to it. But the color won’t be changed fundamentally. The luminous effect will be largely discounted when adding color. The more intense the color is, the more largely the luminous effect will decline.

Luminous powder belongs to inorganic pigment. Long-lasting luminous pigments will first absorb various energy and light, converting them into light energy for storage. They then emit light in the darkness. The material doesn’t contain radioactive elements and can be used for many times. It realize luminescence by absorbing various visible light. The material has strong absorption capability for light below 450nm, such as ultraviolet light, sunlight, visible light.

3. Basic Form

Long-lasting luminous powder has one color for general form and six color for long-lasting form. It can be added into various fluorescent agents to adjust color. Luminous powder with various color can be mixed to adjust color.

4. The Application of Referred Color

Various light, such as red light, white light, purple light, sky-blue light, blue-green light, yellow-green light, can be adjusted by adding fluorescent pigment and dye. The addition ratio of fluorescent agent is about 1%~5% of luminous powder. The color can also be adjusted by using ordinary pigment and dye, but the luminous effect is not that good.

5. The Characteristics of the Products

　Long-lasting luminous powder. The time for residual fluorescence is 10 times than that of ordinary luminous powder. As it has good weather resistance, it can be used both indoor and outdoors;
　There are three taboos for the usage of long-lasting luminous powder:

Avoid contacting with water.
Avoid contacting with metal directly.
Avoid friction with high temperature directly. This taboo is not applicable to ordinary luminous powder.

The ratio of long-lasting luminous powder is 3.6. The powder can absorb the light and release light for a longtime. It doesn’t contain radioactive substance. It is not toxic or detrimental. Rare earth constitutes its main elements.
The ratio of ordinary luminous powder is 4.1. Material: ZnS:Cu. The time for its absorption and release of light is rather short
Luminous powder can be used in many objects, such as transportation tools, military equipment, fire emergency evacuation sign, architecture decoration, fishing gear, power switches, garment products, ordinary ornaments, traffic signs seat number in the cinemas, cameras, radios, wild indicators or instruments, buttons, telephone buttons, clocks, night objects, ect.

6. Attention for the Application of Coatings and Mesh-printing ink:

Use weakly alkaline transparent resinsor neutral ones.
Avoid use metal apparatus or containers. This kind of containers will turn white and solidified into stones when the humidity is too intense, As it can absorb water in the air, we need to prevent dampness.
We need to use resins with high viscosity and add inhibitors, so as to avoid the luminous powder sediment in the luminous coatings. We need to stir thoroughly before using the coatings. The heavy metal compounds can’t be used as additives.
The white or reflective color are used for printing background color. They can enhance the brightness of the graphs ans extent luminescence time.
For mesh-printing, it is suggested to set the specification to 80 to 120 threads per inch, so as to obtain better luminescence effect.
For coatings and inks, the thickness should be over 0.1mm. The effect will be the best we the thickness can be restricted to 0.12~ 0.15mm. (The thickness can be used by use 100 threads for two times)
It is suggested that the amount of luminous powder should be 10%~60%of the total weight. The more the amount is, the better the luminous effect will be.
We should select different type of transparent substrate based on different printing materials. For example, we should select the inks for metal if we want to print on metal materials. We should select inks for PVC if we want to print on PVC materials. The higher the transparent level is, the better the effect will be.
If we want to use water-based coating and ink, we should process the luminous power using special microencapsulation package.

7. Attention for the Application of Plastic Injection and Extrusion

Luminous powder can inject and extrude together with various plastics, such as acrylic, nylon, EVA, TPR, ABS, PS, PU, PVC, PE, PP, ect.
When luminous powder inject directly, we should ass appropriate amount of lubricants ans white paraffin oil. These two materials can facilitate the combination between the plastics and luminous powder. We’dbetter use masterbatches, as this material can disperse more evenly. Before using masterbatches, we should keep it dry.
The mainly underlying color of plastics are transparent, luminescent color and light color, ect. The luminous effect is relatively good.
When the plastics inject, the amount of luminous powder is suggested to be 1.0% ~ 20%of the total weight. The luminous effect will be different due to the color and the thickness.

8. Are luminous materials detrimental to human body?

The main elements of luminous material is phosphor powder. This kind of powder can emit light in the darkness after absorbing energy in the light. There are many chemical substances which constitute the phosphor powder, such as aluminate, silicates, zinc oxide, ect. In the process of producing luminous materials, these chemical substances will be solidified in the materials and it is not easy for these substances to volatilize.

However, People are still worried about that the contacting with luminous materials can be detrimental to human body, although in normal conditions, the chemical substances in the luminous materials is not easy to volatilize. According to the study, although the phosphor powder in the luminous materials is not easy to volatilize, there will be chances that, under the circumstances with high humidity and high temperature, the materials can still volatilize small amount of detrimental elements. What’s more, if we are exposed to the luminous materials for a long time, there will also be chances that our skin will be allergenic and irritated due to the detrimental elements.

For pregnant women and children, as they are tender in their skin, they will be highly susceptible to the exterior environment. Therefore, it is important for the two groups to pay attention to the use of this kind of materials. For example, when will buy this kind of materials, we should choose official channel to buy them. We should make sure that these materials meet the national standards. We should avoid contacting these materials for a long time. Moreover, some of us worries that the radioactive substances in these materials will be detrimental to human body. Actually, the amount of radioactive substances in these materials has been restricted to a certain degree are subject to the supervision of official organs. They won’t cause harm to people’s health.

Overall, the impact of luminous materials to human body is rather slim. However, when we choose luminous products, we should still need to pay attention to some details, especially for pregnant women and children. We should choose official channel to purchase the products and avoiding contacting with the products for a long time. These measure can effectively reduce the underlying risks.