CN111574860A

CN111574860A - Metallic pigment flakes and metallic inks

Info

Publication number: CN111574860A
Application number: CN202010556574.2A
Authority: CN
Inventors: 牛亮亮; 石斌; 徐明权; 向杰; 潘硕
Original assignee: Huizhou Foryou Optical Technology Co ltd
Current assignee: Huizhou Foryou Optical Technology Co ltd
Priority date: 2020-06-17
Filing date: 2020-06-17
Publication date: 2020-08-25

Abstract

The application relates to the technical field of pigment flakes and provides a metal pigment flake and a metal color ink. The metal pigment sheet comprises a base layer, at least one first metal layer and at least one color modulation layer, wherein the at least one first metal layer is arranged on at least one side of the main surface of the base layer, the at least one color modulation layer is arranged between the base layer and the first metal layer and/or on one side of the main surface of the first metal layer, which is far away from the base layer, the first metal layer is used for enabling the metal pigment sheet to have a metal color, and the color modulation layer is used for enabling the metal pigment sheet to be superimposed with an interference color on the basis of the metal color. The metal pigment flake can have metal color and simultaneously has superimposed interference color.

Description

Metallic pigment flakes and metallic inks

Technical Field

The application relates to the technical field of pigment flakes, in particular to a metal pigment flake and a metal color ink.

Background

Metallic pigments generally refer to pigments prepared by finely grinding particles or flakes of a metal or an alloy, and have a metallic luster and are widely used in the coating industry as decorative paints.

For example, at present, aluminum is widely used to prepare metal pigments in flake or powder form, wherein aluminum paste is generally prepared by a ball milling method, spherical aluminum powder is used as a raw material, the spherical aluminum powder is subjected to wet ball milling to obtain flake aluminum powder, and then the flake aluminum powder is subjected to a series of treatments of classification, filtration and mechanochemical polishing.

However, the metal pigment flakes prepared at present generally have simple structures, and only broken nanoscale aluminum flakes substantially act as specular reflection, so that the application fields of the metal pigment flakes are limited.

Disclosure of Invention

The application provides a metallic pigment piece and metallic ink to solve the comparatively single problem of metallic pigment piece color effect.

In order to solve the technical problem, the application adopts a technical scheme that: the metal pigment flake comprises a base layer, at least one first metal layer and at least one color modulation layer, wherein the at least one first metal layer is arranged on at least one main surface of the base layer, the at least one color modulation layer is arranged between the base layer and the first metal layer and/or on one main surface of the first metal layer, which is far away from the base layer, the first metal layer is used for enabling the metal pigment flake to have a metal color, and the color modulation layer is used for enabling the metal pigment flake to be superimposed with an interference color on the basis of the metal color.

In order to solve the above technical problem, another technical solution adopted by the present application is: a metallic ink is provided that includes a base solvent and metallic pigment flakes as described above dispersed in the base solvent.

The beneficial effect of this application is: different from the situation of the related art, the metal pigment flake provided by the application comprises a base layer, at least one first metal layer and at least one color modulation layer, wherein the at least one first metal layer is arranged on at least one main surface of the base layer, the at least one color modulation layer is arranged between the base layer and the first metal layer and/or on one main surface of the first metal layer, which is far away from the base layer, the first metal layer is made of a metal material and is used for enabling the metal pigment flake to have a metal color, and the color modulation layer enables reflected light to generate an interference phenomenon on the surface of the metal pigment flake by enabling incident light to be refracted or reflected in the layer or the surface of the color modulation layer, so that the metal pigment flake provided by the application can be superposed with the interference color while having the metal color.

Drawings

In order to more clearly illustrate the technical solutions in the embodiments of the present application, the drawings needed to be used in the description of the embodiments are briefly introduced below, it is obvious that the drawings in the following description are only some embodiments of the present application, and other drawings can be obtained by those skilled in the art without inventive efforts, wherein:

fig. 1 is a schematic structural view of a first embodiment of a metallic pigment flake according to the present application;

fig. 2 is a schematic view of a structure of a base layer of a first embodiment of metallic pigment flakes according to the present application;

fig. 3 is a schematic structural view of a second embodiment of a metallic pigment flake according to the present application;

FIG. 4 is a schematic representation of the multi-path interference effect of a second embodiment of metallic pigment flakes according to the present application;

fig. 5 is a schematic structural view of a third embodiment of a metallic pigment flake according to the present application;

fig. 6 is a schematic structural view of a fourth embodiment of a metallic pigment flake according to the present application;

fig. 7 is a schematic view of another structure of a fourth embodiment of metallic pigment flakes according to the present application;

fig. 8 is a schematic structural view of a fifth embodiment of a metallic pigment flake of the present application;

FIG. 9 is a schematic view of an embodiment of a metallic ink of the present application.

Detailed Description

The technical solutions in the embodiments of the present application will be clearly and completely described below with reference to the drawings in the embodiments of the present application, and it is obvious that the described embodiments are only a part of the embodiments of the present application, and not all of the embodiments. All other embodiments, which can be derived by a person skilled in the art from the embodiments given herein without making any creative effort, shall fall within the protection scope of the present application.

It should be noted that if directional indications (such as up, down, left, right, front, and back … …) are referred to in the embodiments of the present application, the directional indications are only used to explain the relative positional relationship between the components, the movement situation, and the like in a specific posture (as shown in the drawings), and if the specific posture is changed, the directional indications are changed accordingly.

In addition, if there is a description of "first", "second", etc. in the embodiments of the present application, the description of "first", "second", etc. is for descriptive purposes only and is not to be construed as indicating or implying relative importance or implicitly indicating the number of technical features indicated. Thus, a feature defined as "first" or "second" may explicitly or implicitly include at least one such feature. In addition, technical solutions between various embodiments may be combined with each other, but must be realized by a person skilled in the art, and when the technical solutions are contradictory or cannot be realized, such a combination should not be considered to exist, and is not within the protection scope of the present application.

Referring to fig. 1, fig. 1 is a schematic structural diagram of a first embodiment of a metal pigment flake according to the present application.

The present embodiment provides a metal pigment flake 100, wherein the metal pigment flake 100 includes a base layer 10, at least one first metal layer 20, and at least one color modulation layer 30.

The base layer 10 may be used to support the first metal layer 20 and the color modulation layer 30 disposed thereon.

Optionally, a metal material is included in the base layer 10 to enhance the reflectivity of the metallic pigment flakes 100.

At least one first metal layer 20 is disposed on at least one major surface of the base layer 10.

In this embodiment, the first metal layer 20 may be a high-brightness reflective layer, i.e. an active layer of the metal pigment flake 100 generating a high-brightness metal color, which may be made of a high-purity high-reflective metal material.

It is understood that the number of the first metal layers 20 may be one, and is disposed on one major surface of the base layer 10; the number of the first metal layers 20 may be two, and are respectively disposed on the opposite major surfaces of the base layer 10.

Alternatively, the material of the first metal layer 20 may be selected from aluminum, silver, gold, or platinum. The metal content of the first metal layer 20 may be 99.8% or more.

Alternatively, the physical thickness of the first metal layer 20 may be 10nm to 100nm, such as 10nm, 20nm, 30nm, 40nm, 60nm, 80nm, 95nm, or 100 nm.

At least one color modulation layer 30 is disposed between the base layer 10 and the first metal layer 20 and/or on a major surface of the first metal layer 20 facing away from the base layer 10. It is understood that the number of color modulation layers 30 may be 1, 2, or 4.

The first metal layer 20 is used to make the metallic pigment flakes 100 have a metallic color, and the color preparation layer 30 is used to make the metallic pigment flakes 100 superimpose an interference color on the metallic color.

As shown in fig. 1, in one embodiment, the number of the color modulation layers 30 may be 1, and the color modulation layers 30 are disposed on the main surface of the first metal layer 20 facing away from the base layer 10.

By arranging the color modulation layer 30 on the main surface of the first metal layer 20 on the side away from the base layer 10, on one hand, the color modulation layer 30 has the function of modulating the color of the metal pigment sheet 100, that is, the reflectivity of the metal pigment sheet 100 to incident light with a specific wavelength is finely adjusted by adjusting the thickness of the color modulation layer 30, so that the brightness and the color of the metal pigment sheet 100 have a fine adjustment space, and the metal pigment sheet 100 has the characteristic of differentiation in color performance; on the other hand, the color modulation layer 30 may function to protect the first metal layer 20, reduce the risk of corrosion of the first metal layer 20, provide the metallic pigment flake 100 with a higher reflectivity, and increase the weatherability of the flake.

In one embodiment, the number of the color modulation layers 30 may be 1, and the color modulation layers 30 are disposed between the base layer 10 and the first metal layer 20.

By arranging the color modulation layer 30 between the base layer 10 and the first metal layer 20, on one hand, the thickness of the first metal layer 20 is selected to be within a certain range, for example, 15nm to 30nm, so as to allow part of incident light to pass through the first metal layer 20 to reach the color modulation layer 30, so that the color modulation layer 30 has an effect of modulating the color of the metal pigment flake 100, that is, the reflectance of the metal pigment flake 100 to incident light with a specific wavelength is finely adjusted by adjusting the thickness of the color modulation layer 30, so that the brightness and the color of the metal pigment flake 100 have a fine adjustment space, and the metal pigment flake 100 has a characteristic of differentiation in color performance; on the other hand, the color modulation layer 30 also has the function of protecting the base layer 10, so that the base layer 10 and the first metal layer 20 are arranged at intervals, and the risk of metal corrosion between the two is reduced.

Different from the related art, the metal pigment flake 100 provided in this embodiment includes a base layer 10, at least one first metal layer 20, and at least one color modulation layer 30, wherein the at least one first metal layer 20 is disposed on at least one main surface of the base layer 10, and the at least one color modulation layer 30 is disposed between the base layer 10 and the first metal layer 20 and/or on one main surface of the first metal layer 20 away from the base layer 10, wherein the first metal layer 20 is made of a metal material, and is used for making the metal pigment flake 100 have a metal color, and the color modulation layer 30 refracts or reflects incident light in or on the layer or the surface of the metal layer, so that the reflected light generates an interference phenomenon on the surface of the metal pigment flake 100, and the metal pigment flake 100 of the present application can have the metal color and also superimpose the interference color.

Alternatively, the base layer 10 may be a single metal layer structure, and the material of the base layer 10 is selected from one of aluminum, silver, copper, chromium, and nickel, or an alloy of at least two of the foregoing.

By providing the base layer 10 with a single metal layer structure, the reflectivity of the metal pigment flake 100 can be enhanced, and the overall brightness of the metal pigment flake 100 can be improved.

Alternatively, the base layer 10 may be a magnetic layer, and the material of the magnetic layer may be selected from one or an oxide of one of iron, cobalt, and nickel, or an alloy of at least two of iron, cobalt, nickel, manganese, and carbon.

Optionally, the magnetic layer has a physical thickness of 5nm to 400nm, such as 5nm, 10nm, 40nm, 80nm, 100nm, 180nm, 250nm, 300nm, 350nm, 380nm, or 400 nm.

The physical thickness of the magnetic layer is preferably 50nm to 200nm, for example 50nm, 60nm, 70nm, 90nm, 110nm, 140nm, 160nm, 170nm, 190nm or 200 nm.

By arranging the magnetic layer as the base layer 10, the metal pigment flakes 100 can have a magnetic function, so that the application range is widened, for example, in anti-counterfeiting application, magnetic recorded information can be utilized, so that information recorded by the metal pigment flakes 100 can be read only by a special instrument, and another defense line is added for anti-counterfeiting; in decoration applications, the position of the metallic pigment flakes 100 in space can be aligned using an external magnetic field, so that they have various 3D effects, greatly increasing the product specificity.

Alternatively, the color modulation layer 30 may be a single dielectric layer structure or composed of a light interference structure.

Alternatively, both sides of the base layer 10 opposite to each other may be symmetrically provided with the first metal layer 20 and the color modulation layer 30. That is, the number of the first metal layer 20 and the color modulation layer 30 is at least 2.

By providing the metal pigment flakes 100 with a symmetrical structure centered on the base layer 10, light incident from both sides of the metal pigment flakes 100 can have an equivalent optical path difference, thereby achieving more stable and reliable color representation.

Referring to fig. 2, fig. 2 is a schematic view of a structure of a base layer in a first embodiment of a metallic pigment flake according to the present application.

In this embodiment, the base layer 10 includes a magnetic layer 11 and at least one second metal layer 12.

The material of the magnetic layer 11 may be selected from one or an oxide of one of iron, cobalt, and nickel, or an alloy of at least two of iron, cobalt, nickel, manganese, and carbon.

Alternatively, the physical thickness of the magnetic layer 11 is 5nm to 100nm, such as 5nm, 10nm, 20nm, 30nm, 40nm, 50nm, 55nm, 60nm, 70nm, 80nm, or 100 nm.

The second metal layer 12 is stacked on the magnetic layer 11, and the first metal layer 20 and the color modulation layer 30 are disposed on the second metal layer 12 away from the magnetic layer 11.

As shown in fig. 2, in one embodiment, the base layer 10 includes two second metal layers 12. The second metal layers 12 are symmetrically disposed on both major surfaces of the magnetic layer 11. This arrangement is adapted to a structure in which the first metal layer 20 and the color modulation layer 30 are symmetrically disposed on both sides of the base layer 10 opposite to each other.

In other embodiments, the base layer 10 may include only one second metal layer 12, and the first metal layer 20 and the color modulation layer 30 are disposed on the second metal layer 12 away from the magnetic layer 11.

The second metal layer 12 can be made of the same material as the first metal layer 20, so as to reduce the metal species in the metal pigment flakes 100, reduce the number of layers with metal activity, and reduce the risk of metal corrosion, thereby further improving the stability of the metal pigment flakes 100.

By providing the base layer 10 including the magnetic layer 11 and the second metal layer 12, the reflectivity of the metallic pigment flakes 100 can be enhanced, increasing the overall brightness of the metallic pigment flakes 100.

In addition, in one embodiment, the color modulation layer 30 is disposed between the base layer 10 and the first metal layer 20, and the side of the color modulation layer 30 close to the base layer 10 is a dielectric layer, and the second metal layer 12 can also enhance the adhesion between the magnetic layer 11 and the dielectric layer, thereby reducing the risk of delamination of the metallic pigment flakes 100 during subsequent fracture.

Referring to fig. 3 and 4 in combination, fig. 3 is a schematic structural diagram of a second embodiment of the metallic pigment flake of the present application. Fig. 4 is a schematic representation of the multi-light path interference effect of a second embodiment of the metallic pigment flakes of the present application.

The second embodiment of the metal pigment flake is based on the first embodiment of the metal pigment flake, and therefore the same structure as that of the first embodiment is not repeated.

In the present embodiment, the number of color modulation layers 30 may be 2, that is, the color modulation layer 30 includes a first color modulation layer 31 and a second color modulation layer 32.

The first color modulation layer 31 is disposed on a side of the first metal layer 20 facing away from the base layer 10.

And a second color modulation layer 32 disposed between the base layer 10 and the first metal layer 20, and the first metal layer 20 has a thickness set to allow part of incident light to be transmitted to the second color modulation layer 32.

To illustrate the principle of interference phenomenon generated by the reflection and refraction of incident light in the metal pigment flake 100, please refer to the schematic diagram of multi-light-path interference effect shown in fig. 3. When incident light enters the metal pigment flake 100 from one side, the incident light firstly enters the first color modulation layer 31 from the air, most of the light is reflected back by specular reflection at an interface of the first color modulation layer 31 and the first metal layer 20, and a part of the rest of the light is absorbed by the first metal layer 20, another part of the light passes through the first metal layer 20 and enters the second color modulation layer 32, and a small part of the light entering the second color modulation layer 32 is reflected (may be totally reflected) back at an interface of the second color modulation layer 32 and the base layer 10, passes through the first metal layer 20 and is absorbed by the first metal layer 20 again, and a small amount of the light enters the first color modulation layer 31 from the second color modulation layer 32 through the first metal layer 20, and finally enters the air through the first color modulation layer 31. Therefore, at the interface between the air and the first color modulation layer 31, there are two kinds of reflected light, one is light reflected back only through the first color modulation layer 31, and the other is reflected light that eventually reaches the base layer 10 and returns to the air interface. These two types of reflected light are modulated by the second color modulation layer 32 and the first color modulation layer 31 having a certain thickness, and satisfy a coherence condition, and an interference phenomenon occurs, thereby forming an interference color.

Therefore, providing the first color preparation layer 31 and the second color preparation layer 32 enables the metallic pigment flakes 100 to have a metallic color and also superimpose an interference color.

By providing the first color modulation layer 31 and the second color modulation layer 32 in the metallic pigment flake 100, and setting the thickness of the first metal layer 20 to allow part of the incident light to be transmitted to the second color modulation layer 32, the first color modulation layer 31 and the second color modulation layer 32 can cooperatively modulate the external reflected color of the metallic pigment flake 100, and at the same time, have the functions that the first color modulation layer 31 and the second color modulation layer 32 described above can each provide.

Optionally, the physical thickness of the first metal layer 20 is 15nm to 30nm, such as 15nm, 18nm, 20nm, 25nm, or 30 nm.

By setting the physical thickness of the first metal layer 20 to be 15nm to 30nm, the first metal layer 20 can be made to give a metallic color to the metallic pigment flakes 100 and allow part of incident light to transmit to the second color modulation layer 32, so that the second color modulation layer 32 can cooperate with the first color modulation layer 31 to superimpose an interference color on the metallic pigment flakes 100 on the basis of the metallic color.

In order to allow part of the incident light to transmit to the second color modulation layer 32, the physical thickness of the first metal layer 20 cannot be too thick, so that the incident light transmitted through the second color modulation layer 32 is reflected back at the interface of the second color modulation layer 32 and the base layer 10 by providing the base layer 10 (the base layer 10 includes a metal material or includes a metal layer), so that the reflectance of the metal pigment can be further enhanced while performing color modulation, and the color rendering of the metal pigment sheet 100 can be improved.

Alternatively, the physical thickness of the first metal layer 20 may be less than 15 nm. For example 5nm, 10nm, 12nm or 14 nm.

Alternatively, the physical thickness of the first metal layer 20 may be greater than 30nm and equal to or less than 100 nm. For example 32nm, 40nm, 50nm, 60nm, 80nm or 100 nm.

When the physical thickness of the first metal layer 20 is relatively small, a relatively stronger interference color can be represented; when the physical thickness of the first metal layer 20 is relatively large, a relatively weaker interference color can be represented; therefore, by adjusting the physical thickness of the first metal layer 20, the metal pigment flakes 100 can be further made to exhibit more abundant colors to meet different application requirements.

Optionally, first color modulation layer 31 and/or second color modulation layer 32 are a single dielectric layer structure.

Optionally, medium and low refractive index materials are used for the first color modulation layer 31 and/or the second color modulation layer 32.

The refractive index of the first color modulation layer 31 and/or the second color modulation layer 32 is less than 2.7.

Alternatively, the material of the first color modulation layer 31 and/or the second color modulation layer 32 is at least one selected from silicon dioxide, magnesium fluoride, titanium dioxide, aluminum oxide, and silicon monoxide.

Alternatively, the physical thickness of the first color modulation layer 31 is 5nm to 100nm, for example, 5nm, 10nm, 20nm, 30nm, 40nm, 80nm, or 100 nm.

Alternatively, the physical thickness of the second color modulation layer 32 is 5nm to 400 nm. For example 5nm, 10nm, 50nm, 100nm, 200nm, 300nm or 400 nm.

Alternatively, when the structure of the first color modulation layer 31 is constant, the thickness of the second color modulation layer 32 can be adjusted to obtain the metal pigment flakes 100 having different color rendering properties.

For example, when the first color preparation layer 31 and the second color preparation layer 32 both have a single dielectric layer structure, the materials are silicon dioxide, the physical thickness of the first color preparation layer 31 is 70nm, and the thickness of the second color preparation layer 32 is 180nm to 228nm, the front color of the metallic pigment flake 100 is silver (bluish), the side color of the metallic pigment flake 100 is silver (reddish), and when the thickness of the second color preparation layer 32 is 230nm to 310nm, the front color of the pigment flake is silver (yellowish), and the side color of the pigment flake is silver (reddish).

By adjusting parameters such as refractive index and physical thickness of the first color modulation layer 31 and/or the second color modulation layer 32, interference colors of different colors can be obtained.

Referring to fig. 5, fig. 5 is a schematic structural diagram of a third embodiment of the metallic pigment flake of the present application.

The third embodiment of the metal pigment flake is based on the second embodiment of the metal pigment flake, and therefore the same structure as that of the third embodiment is not repeated, except that:

in the present embodiment, the second color modulation layer 32, the first metal layer 20, and the first color modulation layer 31 are symmetrically disposed on opposite sides of the base layer 10.

Referring to fig. 6 and 7 in combination, fig. 6 is a schematic structural diagram of a fourth embodiment of the metallic pigment flake of the present application. Fig. 7 is a schematic view of another structure of a fourth embodiment of metallic pigment flakes according to the present application.

The fourth embodiment of the metal pigment flake is based on the second embodiment of the metal pigment flake, and therefore the same structure as that of the second embodiment is not repeated, except that:

in the present embodiment, the first color modulation layer 31 and/or the second color modulation layer 32 include at least one high refractive index dielectric layer a and at least one low refractive index dielectric layer b stacked in this order.

It is to be understood that "high" and "low" in the present embodiment are relative concepts, and are intended to indicate that the first color modulation layer 31 and/or the second color modulation layer 32 are dielectric layers having different refractive indices. That is, the high-refractive-index dielectric layer a has a refractive index higher than that of the low-refractive-index dielectric layer b.

Optionally, the high refractive index dielectric layer a and the low refractive index dielectric layer b are both made of dielectric materials with refractive indexes lower than 2.7.

By setting the first color modulation layer 31 and/or the second color modulation layer 32 to have a light interference structure including alternately stacked high and low refractive index medium layers b, it is possible to obtain a richer interference color by setting parameters such as refractive index and physical thickness of each medium layer.

Alternatively, the number of dielectric layers of the first color modulation layer 31 and/or the second color modulation layer 32 may be an odd number layer or an even number layer.

In this embodiment, the stacking order of the high and low refractive index dielectric layers b in the direction extending from the base layer 10 to the surface of the metal pigment flakes 100 is not limited.

In one embodiment, as shown in FIG. 6, first color modulation layer 31 and second color modulation layer 32 may include a high refractive index dielectric layer a and a low refractive index dielectric layer b, respectively.

As shown in fig. 7, in one embodiment, the first color modulation layer 31 and the second color modulation layer 32 may include two high refractive index medium layers a and one low refractive index medium layer b, respectively, and are alternately stacked. It is understood that in other embodiments, the first color modulation layer 31 and the second color modulation layer 32 may also include two low refractive index medium layers b and one high refractive index medium layer a, respectively, and are alternately stacked.

Referring to fig. 8, fig. 8 is a schematic structural diagram of a fifth embodiment of the metal pigment flake according to the present application.

The fifth embodiment of the metal pigment flake is based on the second embodiment of the metal pigment flake, and therefore the same structure as that of the second embodiment is not repeated, except that:

in this embodiment, the first color modulation layer 31 and/or the second color modulation layer 32 include at least one third metal layer c and at least one dielectric layer d stacked in sequence, so that the first color modulation layer 31 and/or the second color modulation layer 32 form a fabry-perot interference cavity, and/or the first color modulation layer 31 and/or the second color modulation layer 32 cooperate with the base layer 10 or the first metal layer 20 to form a fabry-perot interference cavity.

Optionally, the third metal layer c may be made of the same material as the first metal layer 20, so as to reduce the metal species in the metal pigment flake 100, reduce the number of layers with metal activity, and reduce the risk of metal corrosion, thereby further improving the stability of the metal pigment flake 100.

Alternatively, the material of the dielectric layer d may be selected from at least one of silicon dioxide, magnesium fluoride, titanium dioxide, aluminum oxide, and silicon monoxide.

Optionally, the dielectric layer d is made of a dielectric material with a refractive index lower than 2.7.

By setting the first color modulation layer 31 and/or the second color modulation layer 32 to include the optical interference structure in which the third metal layers c and the dielectric layers d are alternately stacked, it is possible to obtain a richer interference color by setting parameters such as refractive indexes and physical thicknesses of the dielectric layers d and the third metal layers c.

Optionally, the first color modulation layer 31 and/or the second color modulation layer 32 are flanked by dielectric layers d.

As shown in fig. 8, in one embodiment, the first color modulation layer 31 and the second color modulation layer 32 may include alternately stacking one third metal layer c and two dielectric layers d, respectively.

Referring to fig. 9, fig. 9 is a schematic view of an embodiment of a metallic ink of the present application.

In this embodiment, the metallic ink 200 includes a base solvent and the metallic pigment flakes 100 of any of the previous embodiments dispersed in the base solvent.

Optionally, the base solvent is an ink or a coating. The base solvent may be a transparent solvent.

Alternatively, the metallic pigment flakes 100 have a size of 0.5 μm to 1000 μm, for example, 0.5 μm, 20 μm, 50 μm, 150 μm, 200 μm, 300 μm, 500 μm, 800 μm, or 1000 μm.

The size of the metallic pigment flakes 100 can refer to the average radial dimension of the metallic pigment flakes 100.

Further, the metallic pigment flakes 100 can have a size of 1 μm to 100 μm, such as 1 μm, 5 μm, 10 μm, 15 μm, 30 μm, 40 μm, 60 μm, 70 μm, 90 μm, or 100 μm.

Alternatively, the metallic pigment flake 100 has an aspect ratio of not less than 2:1, such as 2:1, 2.2:1, 3:1, 5:1, 10:1, or 20: 1.

In one embodiment, where metallic pigment flakes 100 include a magnetic layer, metallic ink 200 may be used in security applications for currency, invoices, securities, certificates, and trademarks.

The metallic ink 200 may also be used in the decorative arts of nail polish, eye shadow, toys, etc.

The present application will now be further described with reference to FIG. 5, in conjunction with the following detailed description:

comparative example 1:

the metallic pigment flakes in this example were prepared by the following method:

1. coating an isolating layer on the PET film, and then carrying out vacuum aluminizing.

2. And mechanically coating an isolating layer on the obtained aluminum-plated layer, and then performing vacuum coating.

3. Repeating the step 2 for a plurality of times.

4. And stripping off each isolated layer, carrying out solid-liquid separation, cleaning and crushing the solid obtained by separation to obtain the mirror surface silver paste.

The aluminum pigment flake prepared by the method has simple structure, and only the broken nanoscale aluminum flake substantially acts as mirror reflection, so that the aluminum pigment flake is only used as a common paint on the application surface, and the product prepared by the method has simple structure and is easy to oxidize in the process of preparing the paint, thereby influencing the reflection characteristic and the weather resistance of the product.

Example 1:

in this example, the metal pigment flakes 100 are symmetrically provided with the second color modulation layer 32, the first metal layer 20, and the first color modulation layer 31 on opposite sides thereof, in which:

the first color modulation layer 31 is of a single-medium-layer structure, is made of silicon dioxide and has a thickness of 70 nm;

a first metal layer 20, the material is selected from aluminum, and the thickness is 42 nm;

the second color modulation layer 32 is of a single-medium-layer structure, is made of silicon dioxide and has a thickness of 180 nm;

the base layer 10 comprises a magnetic layer 11 and two second metal layers 12, wherein the two second metal layers 12 are respectively arranged on two main surfaces of the magnetic layer 11, the material of the magnetic layer 11 is selected from alloys of iron, cobalt and nickel, the thickness of the magnetic layer 11 is 108nm, and the material of the second metal layers 12 is selected from Al and is 30 nm.

The metallic pigment flakes 100 plated according to the above structure and related parameters exhibit the following characteristics:

color: the reflectivity is more than 90%, the whole body mainly shows aluminum and silver, the front side shows slight cyan under the main silver tone, and the side view shows red under the main silver tone.

Weather resistance: the metallic pigment flakes 100 plated by this method are not abnormal when exposed to air and left to stand for 30 days. Whereas metallic pigment flakes 100, which are typically plated in a conventional configuration, begin to darken and turn dark within 3 days of the same conditions.

Example 2:

the second color modulation layer 32 is of a single-medium-layer structure, is made of silicon dioxide and has a thickness of 228 nm;

Example 3:

the second color modulation layer 32 is of a single-medium-layer structure, is made of silicon dioxide and has a thickness of 230 nm;

color: the reflectivity is more than 90%, the whole body mainly shows aluminum and silver, the front side shows yellowish under the main silver tone, and the side view shows orange under the main silver tone.

Example 4:

a metallic pigment flake 100 comprised of the following materials and physical thicknesses:

the second color modulation layer 32 is of a single-medium-layer structure, is made of silicon dioxide and has a thickness of 310 nm;

color: the reflectivity is more than 90%, the whole body mainly shows aluminum and silver, meanwhile, the front side shows microscopic yellow under the silver main base tone, and the side view shows orange under the silver main base tone.

Different from the situation of the related art, the metal pigment flake provided by the application comprises a base layer, at least one first metal layer and at least one color modulation layer, wherein the at least one first metal layer is arranged on at least one main surface of the base layer, the at least one color modulation layer is arranged between the base layer and the first metal layer and/or on one main surface of the first metal layer, which is far away from the base layer, the first metal layer is made of a metal material and is used for enabling the metal pigment flake to have a metal color, and the color modulation layer enables reflected light to generate an interference phenomenon on the surface of the metal pigment flake by enabling incident light to be refracted or reflected in the layer or the surface of the color modulation layer, so that the metal pigment flake provided by the application can be superposed with the interference color while having the metal color.

The above embodiments are merely examples and are not intended to limit the scope of the present disclosure, and all modifications, equivalents, and flow charts using the contents of the specification and drawings of the present disclosure, which are directly or indirectly applied to other related technical fields, are included in the scope of the present disclosure.

Claims

1. A metallic pigment flake, comprising:

a base layer;

at least one first metal layer disposed on at least one major surface of the base layer;

at least one color modulation layer arranged between the base layer and the first metal layer and/or on a main surface of the first metal layer facing away from the base layer;

wherein the first metal layer is configured to impart a metallic color to the metallic pigment flakes, and the color modulation layer is configured to superimpose an interference color on the metallic color based on the metallic color.

2. The metallic pigment flake of claim 1, wherein the color tuning layer comprises a first color tuning layer disposed on a side of the first metal layer facing away from the base layer.

3. The metallic pigment flake of claim 2, wherein the color modulation layer further comprises a second color modulation layer disposed between the base layer and the first metal layer, the first metal layer having a thickness configured to allow a portion of incident light to be transmitted to the second color modulation layer.

4. The metallic pigment flake of claim 3, wherein the second color modulation layer, the first metal layer, and the first color modulation layer are symmetrically disposed on opposite sides of the base layer.

5. The metallic pigment flake of claim 1,

the base layer comprises a magnetic layer, and the material of the magnetic layer is selected from one or one oxide of iron, cobalt and nickel, or an alloy of at least two of iron, cobalt, nickel, manganese and carbon;

the physical thickness of the magnetic layer is 5 nm-400 nm.

6. The metallic pigment flake of claim 5,

the base layer further comprises at least one second metal layer;

the second metal layer and the magnetic layer are stacked, and the first metal layer and the color modulation layer are arranged on one side of the second metal layer, which is far away from the magnetic layer.

7. The metallic pigment flake of claim 6,

the material of the second metal layer is selected from at least one of aluminum, silver, gold, platinum, chromium, nickel, titanium, copper, silicon, germanium and vanadium or an alloy of at least two of the aluminum, the silver, the gold, the platinum, the chromium, the nickel, the titanium, the copper, the silicon, the germanium and the vanadium;

the physical thickness of the second metal layer is 5 nm-100 nm.

8. The metallic pigment flake of claim 1,

the base layer is of a single-metal-layer structure, and the material of the base layer is selected from one or an alloy of at least two of aluminum, silver, copper, chromium and nickel.

9. The metallic pigment flake of claim 3,

the first color modulation layer and/or the second color modulation layer are of a single medium layer structure;

the material of the first color modulation layer and/or the second color modulation layer is at least one selected from the group consisting of silicon dioxide, magnesium fluoride, titanium dioxide, aluminum oxide, and silicon monoxide.

10. The metallic pigment flake of claim 9,

the first color modulation layer has a physical thickness of 5nm to 100nm, and/or

The second color modulation layer has a physical thickness of 5nm to 400 nm.

11. The metallic pigment flake of claim 10,

the first color modulation layer has a physical thickness of 70nm, and the second color modulation layer has a physical thickness of 180nm to 228nm or 230nm to 310 nm;

the first color modulation layer and the second color modulation layer are each selected from silicon dioxide.

12. The metallic pigment flake of claim 3,

the first color modulation layer and/or the second color modulation layer include at least one high refractive index dielectric layer and at least one low refractive index dielectric layer that are sequentially stacked.

13. The metallic pigment flake of claim 12,

the refractive index of the high-refractive-index dielectric layer is higher than that of the low-refractive-index dielectric layer;

the high-refractive-index dielectric layer and the low-refractive-index dielectric layer are made of dielectric materials with refractive indexes lower than 2.7.

14. The metallic pigment flake of claim 3,

the first color modulation layer and/or the second color modulation layer comprise at least one third metal layer and at least one dielectric layer which are sequentially stacked, so that the first color modulation layer and/or the second color modulation layer form a Fabry-Perot interference cavity, and/or the first color modulation layer and the base layer or the first metal layer are matched to form the Fabry-Perot interference cavity.

15. The metallic pigment flake of claim 2,

the material of the first metal layer is selected from aluminum, silver, gold or platinum;

the physical thickness of the first metal layer is 10 nm-100 nm.

16. The metallic pigment flake of claim 3,

the physical thickness of the first metal layer is 15 nm-30 nm.

17. A metallic ink, characterized by: the metallic ink includes a base solvent and metallic pigment flakes according to any one of claims 1-16 dispersed in the base solvent.

18. The metallic ink of claim 17,

the basic solvent is ink or paint;

the size of the metal pigment flake is 0.5-1000 μm, and the diameter-thickness ratio of the metal pigment flake is not less than 2: 1.