BASF introduces black pigments for solar heat management

July 2006

BASF has developed NIR-transparent black pigments Lumogen® Black FK 4280 and Lumogen® Black FK 4281 that can cut in half the solar heat build-up of dark coloured, even black, construction elements. The company says that the functional pigments can prevent unbearably hot black surfaces exposed to sunlight and warping of dark coloured window profiles, for example.

The company explains that although carbon black can be used to create dark or black colours, it does get hot in the sun. The pigment’s high absorption in the solar near-infrared leads to severe heat build-up in the construction element. BASF says that its newly developed functional black pigments solve this problem. The transparency of Lumogen black pigments in the range of solar infrared radiation from 750 nm up to 2500 nm cuts the solar heat build-up due to incident sunlight in half. As a result, the construction element stays cooler. In addition, Lumogen black pigments offer excellent heat resistance, colour strength and migration stability as well as extreme resistance to chemical and physical effects, good dispersibility and insolubility in all common solvents.