The character of black color

My niece recently noticed at the exhibition dedicated for kids a stunning collection of crayons, which moved her heart. Looking at the impressive palette of colors, I noticed the black color, which in this set was rather dark gray. Since childhood, we have been taught that the black pencil is the darkest and it is best to use it to draw the night. But this shade would be more suitable to draw a dusk or gray morning. It is difficult to determine the color as "perfect black", because the perception of a given color also depends on the recipient. Looking at the black car body, we are aware that its color is influenced by many factors such as undercoat or varnish applied to the finish. Surfaces with a deep black durable body color are not easy to obtain.

The black color is a synonym of universality, because it fits perfectly with other colors. This universalism and at the same time elegance of a dark color entered not only to the canon of motorization, but also fashion, as evidenced by the immortal phrase little black for a specific type of dress. Despite the transient trends, black does not come off the pedestal of one of the most frequently chosen color for newly purchased cars. In contempt of the difficulty in keeping the dark color clean, a neat black car body always has a positive effect on the aesthetic qualities of even an unattractive car.

But why only a few available colors on the market seem to us perfectly black?

Here one should mention the extensive search for deep and true black by many brands. A few years ago, a product made of nanotubes under the name Vantablack appeared. Its unusual property is the absorption of almost 100% of incident light. This product was used to mask satellites by NASA or to paint spy planes. Looking at the surface covered with this material, we are not able to see shadows, which the eye perceives as a flat surface. Unfortunately, the material is not a paint or pigment, but a special coating made of nanotubes. Of course, in nature you can find patterns of saturated black, such as pitch or soot. It can be concluded that the certain structure affects the reception of the black color.

But how to get the "darkest black" on our car using car paints?

The depth of color is not without significance, which for car users begins to play a special role in attracting the attention of other drivers. That is why car paint manufacturers have been working for many years to obtain a shade that will be perceived as more intense, deep, "darkest". Above all, the most important thing is to choose the substrate for the base. The best solution will be a dark colored foundation and ideally it would be black. Recently a new product appeared from Multichem - Sealer, which can be tinted according to your taste, and adding it to an old varnish will result in a faster change in the color of coating, e.g. to the desired black.

For base selection we have many black shades to choose from and companies usually have a wide range of ready-made black colors. Unfortunately, for now the producers are not able to create the black color similar to Vantablack product, but thanks to many tests carried out by color laboratories, saturated, "juicy" black varieties are obtained. Here you should look for two Profix products. One of them is Black Plus, which is saturated black. His spectrum of color is shifted towards the navy blue, which makes this color intensely black. The second product is addressed to people wanting to get a stunning color. Based on experience from previous generations, we have created JetBlack. For centuries, black soot was used for the production of black pigments, which was ubiquitous and cheap.

Continuously developing the methods of pigments production, the aim was to obtain the smallest possible particle size of the pigment from which the paint is produced. For example, a large proportion of black varnishes available on the market have pigment particles about 100 nm in size, that is a thickness 600 times smaller than human hair. The smaller the particle size, the greater the surface area that can absorb visible light. Multichem managed to obtain the particle size of black pigment almost 10 times smaller than the most popular black paints on the market. This type of pigment was used to produce the basic JetBlack black lacquer and thanks to that its depth of color is extremely intense.

The color of the coating that we get awakens admiration from other drivers on the road. The third step to achieve a satisfactory effect is to choose a high-quality clearcoat, thanks to which the surface will be shiny and resistant to scratches.

Recently a new trend is rising in form of matt effect, which is achieved thanks to the use of matt varnishes (e.g. CM10 by Profix). Unfortunately, choosing a matt effect results in much weaker depth of the black color.

Reaching the conclusion, current technique has not yet created a perfectly black coating that absorbs 100% of light. Nevertheless, producers will strive for the effect it brings, taking into account that black lacquer will always remain the universal and elegant.