Have you ever wondered what gives the t-shirt you wear its jazzy colours or the leather shoes its shinning black or for that matter the colour print out you have just taken from your printer. Perhaps there would be a very few applications, where there would be no use of the dyes. Constant researches done over the 20th century and there after has resulted into every imaginable form of color of dye. Modern dyes serves more than just being pretty. They have become indispensable tools for a variety of industries. From acting as colorants for plastics, Textile dyeing industries and the highly sophisticated biotechnology industry dyes are touching our life everywhere. Dyes are also used by industries for inks and tinting. Today various dyes are manufactured to meet the requirements of each type of industries. Dyes are available in various forms. Examples are dry powders, granules, pastes, liquids, pellets, and chips.

Other industries where dyes are used in a variety of products include paper and pulp, adhesives, art supplies, beverages, ceramics, construction, cosmetics, food, glass, paints, polymers, soap, wax biomedicine etc.

Dyes that cater to speciality industries often come with specialized properties that include:

• Resistance to heat
• Resistance to weather conditions
• Resistance to ultraviolet light (UV)
• Some products are water soluble
• Conducts electricity
• Contain reinforcing fibers
• Free from heavy metals

Today the role and application of pigments have increased manifolds. There would hardly be any industries left where Pigments do not play any substantial role. The challenge is now to discover pigments that are capable of not only long-lasting applications but also are environmentally safe. A few of the important applications of Pigments is given below.

Paints- A diversified application in the whole gamut of paints that include decorative and protective coatings, in paints that are oil and resin based, automotive finishes, emulsion paints, distempers, aqueous based paints like lime etc.

Printing inks- Pigments are used in all kinds of printing inks, that includes inks for printing metal foils, lacquers etc.

Pigment finishes for leather and textiles: Coloration application for popular textiles such as polyesters, nylon etc.

Colouration of Plastics- Pigments are used in host of plastic applications that includes poly vinyl chloride(PVC), rubber and synthetic polymers, urea-formaldehyde(U-F) and melamine-formaldehyde moulding powders polystyrene, nylons, polyfins, phenol-formaldehyde(P-F), acrylonitrile-butadiene-styrene resins (ABS).

Colouratuon of cement glass paints

Colours for cosmetics

Colouration for papers