Abstract
MODERN developments in plastic materials have forced the paint industry to concern itself with an ever-increasing number of film-forming substances-synthetic rubbers, resins and oils ; and researches on pigments have not lagged behind. The electron microscope reveals the shapeof particles too small for optical resolution. Pigment particles had been assumed to be spherical ; it transpires, however, that of the pigments commonly used only carbon particles have this shape. The shape of carbon particles is independent of the material from which the pigment is prepared. Carbon smoke is different from other inorganic smokes, which, with the exception of aluminium oxide, yield crystalline particles, and the reason for this difference has not been fully explained. The carbon pigments have another interesting property, namely, that of forming chains, like beads on a string. Such an arrangement may be due to electrostatic charges ; but whatever the cause, the condition probably accounts for the high electrical conductivity of carbon-pigmented paint.
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FUTURE OF PAINT. Nature 159, 820–821 (1947). https://doi.org/10.1038/159820b0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/159820b0