Strontium Aluminate Photoluminescent Pigment — Glow Pigment for Resin and Concrete

Primary uses

• Light storage and re-emission
• Low-light visibility
• Decorative glow effect

Applications

• Glow decorative castings, resin art and surfaces
• Pathway, hardscape and marker applications
• Safety-visibility decorative elements where the specification allows
• Coatings and gel coat effect systems

Advantages

• Stores and re-emits light without any power source, which suits both decorative and marking uses
• Far longer afterglow than older zinc sulfide glow pigments
• Works in resin castings and in surface applications where the pigment stays near the surface

Limitations to consider

• Sensitive to moisture and to alkaline environments unless the supplier provides an encapsulated product
• Performance depends on the light the surface receives, so a poorly lit location charges the pigment poorly
• Brightness and decay behaviour are supplier-declared and are measured by test, never asserted here
• Decorative and architectural work is judged by eye. Colour, gloss, texture and translucency shift with batch, substrate, dosage and finishing method, so approve a physical sample panel made by your own process before a production run and keep it as the reference for later deliveries.
• Where the finished element goes into a building, the performance that matters is the performance of your element under the applicable code and project specification, not the property of a single ingredient. Testing and conformity evidence for the finished product are the responsibility of the producer and are established by project-specific testing.
• Mix ratio, pot life, working time, demould time, full-cure schedule, hardness, tear strength, elongation, shrinkage, viscosity and temperature resistance are properties of one specific supplier system. They are never quoted here from memory or by analogy with a similar product; they are read from the supplier data sheet for the exact material offered and confirmed at quotation.

How to choose the right grade

• Start from the matrix — cementitious, resin or coating — because alkali stability and dispersion behaviour are decided by it
• Agree the colour standard and how it will be verified between deliveries, since colour is the whole point of the purchase
• State the exposure the finished surface will see, including UV, weather and de-icing salt in Canadian service
• State whether the application is decorative or a safety marking, because a marking product requires its own testing route
• Confirm whether an encapsulated product is needed for a cementitious or damp environment
• Mould-making and casting behaviour depends on the pattern, the shop temperature and humidity, the mixing method and the operator. A production-representative trial on your own pattern and in your own shop conditions is the only honest way to qualify a material before a run is committed.
• Exact specification is confirmed against supplier documentation at quotation.

Typical grades

• Particle size ranges and emission colours as the supplier classifies them
• Encapsulated products for cementitious and moisture-exposed systems
• Buyers search this category by grade name, and those names describe what the workshop needs rather than what is asserted here. Which grade a specific offer corresponds to, and what the supplier declares for it, is read from the technical documentation issued for the exact material quoted.
• Materials in this category interact: rubbers, releases, sealers, resins, pigments and fillers can inhibit cure, stain a surface or shorten mould life when they are combined outside the combinations the supplier has tested. State every material already in the process at enquiry so compatibility is checked against supplier documentation rather than discovered on the shop floor.
• Reactive materials age in the container, and moisture-sensitive systems age faster once opened. Order against real consumption rather than against a discount, and confirm the shelf life the supplier states for the exact product and pack.