A method of making pigments, such as special effect pigment includes forming a first slurry including a first solvent, a substrate, and a polymer; forming a functional solvent including a second solvent and a functional component; and combining the first slurry and the functional solvent so that the substrate is encapsulated by the polymer to form a first coating. Special effect pigments formed by the method are also disclosed.

The invention relates to a surface-modified effect pigment comprising particular additives and to the production thereof. The present invention further provides a nail varnish composition comprising a) at least one effect pigment that has been surface-modified with a starting material (additive), where the effect pigment comprises a substrate in platelet form and optionally at least one coating applied to the substrate, b) at least one hydrocarbon resin as binder, and c) at least one solvent or solvent mixture, where the starting material (additive) for surface modification of the effect pigment is at least one compound taken from the group consisting of phosphoric ester-containing, phosphonic ester-containing, phosphonic acid-containing, fatty acid-containing and/or silane-containing compounds or mixtures thereof.

Nano-thick flakes that are either flat, and specularly-reflective in visible light or that have microroughness intentionally controlled to disperse or interfere with visible light. Coatings and inks utilizing such flakes. Method for fabrication of such flakes in partial vacuum includes the repeated multiple times deposition of a release layer over a substrate surface and a flake layer over the release layer to form a multilayer structure further reduced to individual flakes. Reactive metal is passivated inline with the deposition of the flake layer for superior corrosion resistance. Chemically-functional materials are optionally added to the release material to transfer their functionality to the surface of flake layer to create unique functional properties on a flake surface before the multilayer structure is removed from the substrate.

The invention relates to an offset printing ink containing platelet-shaped aluminum pigments with an average thickness h.sub.50 ranging from 15 to 80 nm, binders, and solvents. The invention is characterized in that the platelet-shaped aluminum pigments are produced using a PVD method and are at least partly coated with a leafing additive, and the offset printing ink has a viscosity of 4 to 15 Pa s, measured on a sample which is temperature-controlled at 25 C. by means of a rotation viscometer with a cone/plate geometry under a shear stress of 185.9 Pa. The invention further relates to a method for producing a high-gloss printed metal image on a substrate, having the following steps: a) optionally applying a primer onto the substrate; b) applying an offset printing ink according to the invention onto the primer layer or onto the substrate, thereby forming a high-gloss printed layer B, and c) optionally applying additional color layers C onto the layer B.

The invention relates to a nail varnish composition comprising: a) an embossed effect pigment comprising a metallic substrate in platelet form with embossed structure having a periodic pattern with diffractive elements, said substrate having been produced by PVD methods, and optionally at least one coating applied to the substrate, wherein the substrate has an elemental metal content of 80% to 100% by weight, based on the substrate, and wherein the effect pigment has been treated with a leafing additive for surface modification, b) at least one hydrocarbon resin as binder, c) at least one solvent or solvent mixture and d) optionally further auxiliaries.

The invention further relates to a process for producing the nail varnish composition.

The invention relates to a powder paint comprising at least one base powder paint and at least one effect powder paint having effect pigments, said effect pigments being dispersed in a melt made from transparent effect powder paint. The invention also relates to a method for producing said type of powder paint and to an effect powder coating containing said type of powder paint.

The present invention relates to biodegradable glitters with enhanced solvent resistance and enhanced temperature stability, and also to the use thereof in cosmetic formulations, coating materials, and plastics; the glitters comprise a foil which comprises cellulose.

An aqueous coating composition includes an aluminum pigment, and the aluminum pigment is composed of tabular particles which are surface-treated by a fluorine-containing compound and which have an average thickness (Z) of 8 to 100 nm in a thickness direction thereof.

The invention relates to coated effect pigments, wherein the coating comprises a binder which is suitable for powder paints. They comprise a crystalline and an amorphous fraction which is determined by C.sup.13 NMR MAS relaxation measurements, the relaxation of the .sup.13C cores being fitted as a biexponential relaxation according to the formula (II) and the degree of crystallinity c being in a range between 40 to 85%, and relaxation having a short average relaxation time T.sub.1.sup.S and a long average relaxation time T.sub.1.sup.I, and T.sub.1.sup.I being in a range of from 65 to 130 s. The effect pigments coated according to the invention have at least one endothermic peak with a maximum from a range of T.sub.max=100 to 150 C. and an enthalpy H associated with said peak from a range of 15 J/g to 80 J/g in DSC at a feed speed of 5 C./min, the enthalpy being calculated relative to the amount of the binder. The binders are applied to the effect pigment by way of spontaneous precipitation.

[00001]$\begin{array}{cc}M\left(t,M_0,a,c,T_1^s,T_1^l\right)=M_0.Math.\left[\left(1-c\right).Math.\left(1-a.Math.e^{-\left(\frac{t}{T_1^s}\right)}\right)+c.Math.\left(1-a.Math.e^{-\left(\frac{t}{T_1^l}\right)}\right)\right]& \left(\mathrm{II}\right)\end{array}$

The invention relates to aluminum pigments which are at least partially coated with lubricant, wherein the aluminum pigments have a relative breadth of thickness distribution h of from 30% to less than 70%, as determined by a scanning electron microscope thickness count and as calculated on the basis of the corresponding cumulative breakthrough curve of the relative frequencies of occurrence, according to the formula h=100(h.sub.90h.sub.10)/h.sub.50, and an X-ray diffractogram, measured on pigments in substantially plane-parallel orientation, having one or two main peaks which do not correspond to the [111] reflexes.

The invention further relates to a method for the production of said aluminum pigments and to uses thereof and also to nail varnishes and printing inks containing said aluminum pigments of the invention.