A method for increasing a detection distance of a surface of an object illuminated by near-IR electromagnetic radiation, including: (a) directing near-IR electromagnetic radiation from a near-IR electromagnetic radiation source towards an object at least partially coated with a near-IR reflective coating that increases a near-IR electromagnetic radiation detection distance by at least 15% as measured at a wavelength in a near-IR range as compared to the same object coated with a color matched coating which absorbs more of the same near-IR radiation, where the color matched coating has a E color matched value of 1.5 or less when compared to the near-IR reflective coating; and (b) detecting reflected near-IR electromagnetic radiation reflected from the near-IR reflective coating. A system for detecting proximity of vehicles is also disclosed.

Provided is a coloring composition capable of producing a cured film having suppressed color unevenness even in a case where the coloring composition is used after being stored for a long period of time. In addition, provided are a color filter, a pattern forming method, a solid-state imaging device, and an image display device. The coloring composition includes a halogenated zinc phthalocyanine pigment, a maleimide compound, a curable compound other than the maleimide compound, and a solvent, in which the molecular weight of the maleimide compound is 100 to 400, and the content of the maleimide compound is 0.08 to 0.8 parts by mass with respect to 100 parts by mass of the halogenated zinc phthalocyanine pigment.

A process for preparing an aqueous dispersion of pigment particles is described. The pigment particle contains a pigment and an aminoplast resin which surrounds or embeds the pigment. The process includes (i) a step of subjecting an aqueous suspension of a pigment in the form of coarse particles to milling so that the coarse particles are comminuted in the presence of a polymeric dispersant to a particle diameter d(v 0.9) of below 1500 nm, as determined by laser diffraction; and (ii) a step of polycondensation of an aminoplast pre-condensate in the aqueous suspension of the comminuted particles of the pigment obtained in step (i) or during the milling of step (i). The polycondensation is performed in the presence of an acid catalyst at pH of below 5.5. The aqueous dispersion obtained by the process and the use of the aqueous dispersion for tinting waterborne liquid coating composition are also described.

The present invention relates to [1] a colored fine particle dispersion containing colored fine particles and a neutralizing agent, in which the colored fine particles are produced by subjecting a monomer mixture containing an acid group-containing polymerizable monomer to emulsion polymerization in the presence of a pigment; the neutralizing agent contains a water-soluble amine compound; and the colored fine particle dispersion has a pH value of from 6 to 11, and [2] a process for producing a colored fine particle dispersion containing colored fine particles and a neutralizing agent, said process including the step 1 of subjecting a monomer mixture containing an acid group-containing polymerizable monomer to emulsion polymerization in the presence of a pigment to obtain a colored fine particle dispersion (p); and the step 2 of mixing the colored fine particle dispersion (p) and the neutralizing agent containing a water-soluble amine compound to obtain the colored fine particle dispersion having a pH value of from 6 to 11. The colored fine particle dispersion of the present invention is used in a water-based ink so that the resulting water-based ink is excellent in ejection stability upon evaporation of water from the ink system while maintaining excellent storage stability thereof, and it is possible to obtain printed materials that are excellent in alcohol resistance even when printed on a low-water absorbing printing medium.

A technical problem of the present invention is to provide a condensed polycyclic organic pigment having excellent dispersion properties and dispersion stability. More specifically, the technical problem of the present invention is to provide a condensed polycyclic organic pigment in which a practically sufficient viscosity is achieved in terms of both the initial viscosity of a base ink and the viscosity over time of a base ink when used in the printing ink application. As a result of thorough studies on the surface state of organic pigment particles and interaction among components constituting a printing ink, it has been found that the technical problem can be solved by using a polyvalent metal inorganic salt in a condensed polycyclic organic pigment, thus accomplishing the present invention.

There is provided a technique for producing a quinacridone solid solution pigment, the technique making it possible to obtain a quinacridone solid solution pigment which produces a colored product having high chroma and a bluish hue, more preferably which has controlled particle diameters. Specifically, a method for producing a quinacridone solid solution pigment, the method including a crude quinacridone solid solution production step of subjecting a diarylaminoterepththalic acid and a dialkylarylaminoterephthalic acid to a co-cyclization reaction in polyphosphoric acid, thereby obtaining a water-containing crude quinacridone solid solution containing a solid solution of an unsubstituted quinacridone and a 2,9-dialkylquinacridone, the solid solution containing water, a drying step of drying the water-containing crude quinacridone solid solution to reduce the water content to less than 1% and obtain a powdery, crude quinacridone solid solution, and a pigmentation step of heating the powdery, crude quinacridone solid solution in a liquid medium that cannot dissolve the crude quinacridone solid solution.

An expandable thermoplastic resin particle including a polymer obtained by a process including polymerizing monomers including 60 to 80 parts by weight of -methylstyrene and 40 to 20 parts by weight of acrylonitrile. A content of residual monomeric components in the expandable thermoplastic resin particle is not more than 0.5% by weight. When an expanded mold article is produced from the expandable thermoplastic resin particle at an expansion ratio of 10 times, foam cells in a cross section of the expanded mold article have an average chord length of from 20 m to 60 m.

A challenge of the present invention is to provide a water-based coating composition capable of providing a design superior in depth feeling in the formation of a multilayer coating film having a so-called color clear coating film. The present invention relates to a water-based coating composition comprising a coating film-forming resin (i) and a coloring pigment dispersion (ii), wherein the coating film-forming resin (i) comprises: an acrylic resin emulsion (A) having an average particle diameter of 100 nm or less in an amount of 10 to 60% by mass in terms of the resin solid content of the coating film-forming resin (i),a water-soluble acrylic resin (B) in an amount of 5 to 40% by mass in terms of the resin solid content of the coating film-forming resin (i), and a melamine resin (C) in an amount of 20 to 40% by mass in terms of the resin solid content of the coating film-forming resin (i); and the coloring pigment dispersion (ii) comprises a coloring pigment (D) having a 90%-volume particle diameter (D90) of 100 nm or less.

A dry pigment paint system includes dry pigment doses that may be used alone or combined with other dry pigment doses to provide a desired color when dispersed in a paint base. The system may use a plurality of dry pigment formulations, with each dry pigment formulation consisting of one or more dry pigments, generally a plurality of dry pigments. Each dry pigment dose may include a single dry pigment formulation. Each does may be a tablet, capsule or sachet. Various dose forms and dispensing systems are disclosed. Formulations of easily dispersible (ED) pigments comprising a combination of a carboxylic acid polymer and a non-ionic alkoxylated surfactant are also disclosed. The combination is used in the formulation of a plurality of pigments. The formulations are suitable for mixing with a base medium at the point-of-sale (PoS) or by the end user.

The present invention relates to [1] a process for producing a fine organic pigment, including step 1 of kneading a mixture prepared by compounding a raw material organic pigment, a water-soluble inorganic salt and a water-soluble organic solvent; and step 2 of subjecting the kneaded mixture obtained in the step 1 to cleaning treatment with an aqueous solvent and then to filtration treatment, in which before or after kneading the mixture in the step 1 and before subjecting the kneaded mixture to filtration treatment in the step 2, a sulfonic acid salt dispersant is compounded in an amount of not less than 0.8 part by mass and not more than 8.0 parts by mass on the basis of 100 parts by mass of the raw material organic pigment; [2] a process for producing a dispersion, including step 3 of subjecting a pigment mixture containing the fine organic pigment obtained by the production process according to the above [1], an organic solvent and water to dispersion treatment; and [3] a process for producing an ink, including step 4 of mixing the dispersion obtained by the production process according to the above [2] with at least one medium selected from the group consisting of water and an organic solvent.