Create glowing epoxy resins with phosphorescence !

Are you familiar with phosphorescent resins ? They glow in the dark with a green or turquoise glow. To answer the thousand ways to answer the question "which epoxy resin colorant to use", here is one of the most original and fascinating : it consists in adding a phosphorescent powder to the epoxy resin to obtain a luminous resin.

The technique is simple, and consists of adding a certain amount of phosphorescent pigment, before the hardener, then stirring. The pigments react to all light sources during the day, and naturally emit visible light in the dark.
But how much to add ? How long does it shine ? Can we have a daytime phosphorescent color ? How many years does the effect last ? Is it dangerous ? Find all these answers below !

Epoxy resin dyes with phosphorescent powder

The addition of pigments is done by weight from 1% to 10%. The thicker the casting, the less pigments will be added : it would be useless to add too much, because it is necessary to let the pigments diffuse the light. Example for a casting 4 cm thick: 20 to 50g / kg.

How long is it ? The effectiveness of the photoluminescent pigments is estimated at 6 to 12 hours, and listen carefully, at more than 100 years the lifespan of the effect, once the pigment is sealed in the casting.

Using an epoxy resin colorant with a phosphorescent powder is not really dangerous because the powder does not fly and above all, it does not contain any toxic compounds. To give this luminous effect to epoxy resins, favor "strong colors", such as green and turquoise. There are 6 other natural colors, but they are not very efficient.

How can you have a daytime phosphorescent epoxy resin ?

We've all seen those videos with this effect of fluorescent and luminous turquoise epoxy resin, in broad daylight. How to get it ?
Be aware that the pigment is always colorless during the day, and colored / luminous at night. The videos show the resin freshly excited by a strong light a few seconds before the photo was taken. The effect can then be visible even without darkness, but it decreases very quickly and becomes invisible after 20 seconds.
Therefore, to obtain a colored effect day and night, there are two solutions, but which will inevitably lower the level of phosphorescence :
- Use a colored background (only light and not dark) under the resin
- Add a little fluorescent powder (3% fluorescent / 97% phosphorescent)
It is not possible to add transparent dyes as this removes, for some strange reason, 100% of the phosphorescence.

Tips for successful phosphorescent epoxy resin

If you use any pigment, and any epoxy resin, you will end up, once the resin has hardened, with all the powder falling to the bottom of the mould... And that's not really not the desired effect if you want to keep the depth and transparency. Here are two very important tips :
1. Select pigments 1 – 5 µm or 5 – 15 µm. Indeed, only the finest pigments are the lightest. To avoid rapid sedimentation of these micro-crystals in the resin, pigments larger than this should not be used.
2. Favor a “quick setting” or a multilayer casting. This is done by first choosing a fast resin and/or by making a thick cast, to promote a significant temperature rise and an accelerated curing reaction. Work in a warm environment.

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