Colorful everyday items, such as fabrics, packaging materials, plastic products, and advertising banners, all attract attention with their vibrant colors and vivid images. These colorful displays are the result of colored substances in different products. These colored substances are called "pigments" or "dyes." So, what is the difference between pigments and dyes? Next, the editor from Jiangxi Meikailu New Material Technology Co., Ltd. will introduce the main differences between pigments and dyes.

The main difference between pigments and dyes lies in the color of the substances they dye. Pigments are substances that give color to objects. Dyes are substances that color fibers and other materials. Pigments are insoluble in the medium, while dyes are soluble in the medium (such as water, solvents, oils, plastics, or high molecular weight substances). Pigments exist in the medium in particulate form, while dyes exist in molecular form. Many surfaces are easily damaged, such as by wind, sunlight, rain, heat, friction, oxidation, and chemicals.

Pigments typically possess the following characteristics:

1. Color. Colored pigments selectively absorb and scatter visible light energy, exhibiting colors such as yellow, red, blue, and green under natural light conditions.

2. Tinting Strength. The ability of a pigment to absorb incident light. It can be expressed as a relative percentage of the tinting strength of a standard pigment sample.

3. Opacity. The ability of a pigment to cover the surface color of a substrate in a film-forming material. Commonly measured in grams of pigment in paint covering 1 square meter of area.

4. Lightfastness. The ability of a pigment to retain its original color under certain light conditions. Generally graded on an 8-point scale, with grade 8 being the best.

5. Weather Resistance. The ability of a pigment to retain its original properties under certain natural or artificial climatic conditions. Generally graded on a 5-point scale, with grade 5 being the best.

6. Volatile Matter. Primarily refers to moisture, generally not exceeding 1%.

7. Oil Absorption. Refers to the amount of refined linseed oil that 100 grams of pigment can form uniform lumps in. Lower oil absorption is better; oil absorption is related to the specific surface area and structure of the pigment particles.