The present invention relates to gold-colored effect pigment including a nonmetallic substrate in platelet form and a coating applied thereto, wherein the coating includes at least one spacer layer. The invention further relates to a process for production of and to the use of the gold-colored effect pigment.

Pigments based on particles which are coated with at least one layer which consists of a mixture of amorphous carbon (a-C) and nanocrystalline graphite (nc-graphite) and use of these pigments in, for example, paints, plastics, industrial coatings, automotive coatings, printing inks and cosmetic formulations.

An asymmetric pigment including a first Fabry-Perot structure; and a second Fabry-Perot structure; wherein the first Fabry-Perot structure and the second Fabry-Perot structure have a similar hue angle within +/45 degrees is disclosed. Other asymmetric pigments are also disclosed as well as methods of making the disclosed pigments.

The present invention relates to effect pigments which are based on flake-form substrates having a circular form factor of 1.2-2 and are coated with at least one high-refractive-index layer, and to the use thereof, inter alia in paints, coatings, printing inks, plastics and in cosmetic formulations.

An article including a thin film interference pigment; and a coating including a selectively absorbing nanoparticle is disclosed. The article can exhibit increased chromaticity as compared to the thin film interference pigment alone. Methods of making the article are also disclosed.

A golden effect pigment comprising an optionally passivated platelet-shaped metallic substrate and an iron oxide layer, wherein the effect pigment has a hue angle h.sub.15 of 67h.sub.1578 and a chroma C*.sub.15 of 90 is provided. Further, a golden effect pigment comprising an optionally passivated platelet-shaped metallic substrate and an iron oxide layer, wherein the effect pigment has a hue angle h.sub.15 of 67h.sub.1578 and a chroma C*.sub.45 of 50 is provided. The golden effect pigments are highly chromatic and suitable for coloring a coating composition such as a paint, a printing ink, an ink, a varnish, plastics, a fiber, a film or a cosmetic preparation, preferably an automotive, an architectural or an industrial coating composition

An inorganic, non-quarter wave, heterogeneous multilayer effect pigment includes a platy substrate comprising an absorbing optically active metal oxide layer thereon, having an optical thickness from about 20 nm to about 400 nm; a layer of low refractive index material on the absorbing optically active metal oxide layer and having an optical thickness from about 10 nm to about 500 nm; and an outermost optically active layer of a non-absorbing high refractive index material on the low refractive index material and having an optical thickness from about 50 nm to about 1000 nm. The multilayer effect pigment exhibits a blue reflectance ratio (BRR) of at least 3, according to the equation: BRR=(Blue Max)/(Green Min); where Blue Max is the maximum reflectance exhibited over wavelengths 380 nm to 450 nm; and Green Min is the minimum reflectance exhibited over wavelengths 450 nm to 600 nm.

A method for forming a multilayer thin film structure includes directly depositing an absorber layer to encapsulate a dielectric layer, and the dielectric layer encapsulates a reflective core particle. The method further including depositing an outer layer to encapsulate the absorber layer, and the multilayer thin film structure has a hue shift of less than 30 in the Lab color space when viewed at angles from 0 to 45.

An optical device includes a colored reflector layer having a first surface, a second surface opposite the first surface, and a third surface; and a selective light modulator layer external to the first surface of the colored reflector layer. A method of making an optical device is also disclosed.

A multilayer thin film that reflects an omnidirectional structural color having a reflective core layer; an amorphous-phase TiO.sub.2 dielectric layer extending across the reflective core layer; a metallic absorbing layer extending across the dielectric layer; and a dielectric outer layer extending across the metallic absorbing layer. The multilayer thin film reflects a single narrow band of visible light when exposed to broadband electromagnetic radiation, and a color shift of the single narrow band of visible light is less than 30 measured in Lab color space when the multilayer thin film is exposed to broadband electromagnetic radiation and viewed from angles between 0 and 45 relative to a direction normal to an outer surface of the multilayer thin film.