Automotive paint flakes for bodywork paint

In everyday language, we can confuse glitter and nacre and for this reason, this article aims to clarify and detail all the types of glitter for car paint that may exist today, especially with numerous and innovative products such as collect StardustColors. Crystal sequins are actually mother-of-pearl.

We can call them sequins because they shine and sparkle under the light. More precisely in truth, one can determine that a spangle is indeed a spangle from its size, that is to say 200 microns. Below this size, it may be micro flakes. Mother-of-pearl, which includes the famous Crystal mother-of-pearl, generally has a size of only around 50 to 70 microns.

Of course, there are Crystal nacres for bodywork that are manufactured with an oversized, raw size, which can reach 200 and even 500 microns. The reflective power of these pigments is quite comparable to that of classic glitter and the advantage is a fineness of particles which makes its paints very easy to varnish unlike plastic glitter.

Why use Crystal car paint flakes ?

So why are Flakes metal type flakes so popular when they are thick, coarse and difficult to varnish (it takes at least six to eight coats of varnish to achieve proper leveling) ? Unlike glitter, Crystal nacres are microscopic particles in terms of thickness, thanks to their composition based on pure synthetic mica. The Crystal mother-of-pearls are positioned flat, perfectly glued to the surface. For their part, the polyester sequins have a thickness 10 times greater and when they are sprayed on a surface, they overlap in all directions. And it's this lack of application that we love because it creates a real effect of depth and an imperfect play of light that sparkles in all directions.

Crystal pearls are high-tech pigments intended for car bodywork. They have countless qualities, in addition to their purity and transparency, including resistance to high temperatures and also to UV. Coated in microscopic metal oxide, they sport different light-reflecting colorations. The color of its reflections is always the following : glass, blue, purple, pink, gold. The achievement of the reflection depends on the thickness of this layer of metallization.

Playing with Crystal pearl

What happens if you mix all the colors available among the Crystal mother-of-pearls ? What will be the color of the reflection obtained ? Try ! The most interesting with its Crystal pigments and to combine different colors of opaque background and to superimpose its mother-of-pearl painted in a translucent and shiny clearcoat : the difference in hue between the background and the reflection of the glitter and the most interesting.

There are opposite colors, for example a green background with a red mother-of-pearl and there are also complementary effects, for example an orange background plus a golden mother-of-pearl or a bright green background and a golden mother-of-pearl, or even a background red with a blue mother-of-pearl. The combinations are endless.

Can we put crystal pearls on anything ?

For complex reasons due to the science of optics, it is not advisable or effective to superimpose these transparent Crystal mother-of-pearls on metallic backgrounds: we are also talking about a raw background of the aluminum or iron type, or even aluminum-based metallic paint.

Indeed, in these situations, the metallic and pearl effects cancel each other out. It is nevertheless perfectly possible to use these Crystal nacres in any type of clearcoat, either water-based or solvent-based, to apply them to materials as varied as each other, such as concrete, wood, plastic…

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