Global Iron oxide Pigments Market
Iron oxide pigments improve the physical and mechanical properties of substrates. They offer properties such as good color strength, heat & light stability, opacity, weather & chemical resistance, and durability to substrates. Iron oxide pigments provides colors to varieties of end user applications and are employed in numerous industries around the globe to provide permanent and stable coloring effects to the substrates. Pigments are also known as colorants, which are insoluble products that can be employed to impart colors to construction materials, paints, inks, plastics, papers, cosmetics, rubbers, concrete blocks, tiles, etc. Pigment molecules contain electrons that can occupy different energy levels when exposed to light. Pigments possess the ability to reflect or absorb light of specific wavelengths. This results in the appearance of colors.
Demand for Synthetic Iron Oxide Pigments to Remain High Due to Their Low Cost
Iron oxide pigments are found in various colors and textures to impart coloring and tinting effects to majority of substrates. On the basis of consumption iron oxide pigments are sub-divided into red, yellow, and black colors. Red color iron oxide pigments are consumed in majority followed by yellow and black pigments. These are the basic color pigments and are used in combinations to produce other colors. The most commonly used methods of manufacturing iron oxide pigments includes the Laux process. This process can produce black, red, and yellow colored pigments of iron oxide. Red iron oxide pigments can also be prepared using the copperas process, which entails the calcination of iron sulfate at high temperature. Furthermore, the precipitation process can be implemented to manufacture red iron oxide pigments. Under this process, aqueous precipitation of iron oxide is formed in the presence of caustic soda under oxidative conditions.
Iron oxide pigments can be sub-divided into synthetic and natural iron oxide pigments. Synthetic iron oxide pigments are made from petrochemicals and waste metal ore slurry. Synthetic iron oxide pigments are cheap as compared to organic iron oxide pigments owing to low cost of raw material as well as synthetic iron oxide pigments have good dispersibility, high tinting strength, UV stability, excellent color intensity, and non-toxic properties. Natural iron oxide pigments are costly as compared with its synthetic counterpart owing to high cost of raw material. Natural iron oxide pigments are more durable and have excellent tinting strength as compared with synthetic pigments. Most of the natural iron oxide pigments are employed in paints & coatings and other automotive applications. Consumption of synthetic iron oxide pigments is much higher as compared with natural iron oxide pigments owing to low cost and high flexibility in varieties of applications in concretes, mortar, render, paving stones, tiles, laminate flooring, cosmetics, rubber, corrosion paints, industrial paints, architectural paints, and plastic materials. Growing construction activities, recovering economy in developed countries, and expanding infrastructure programs in combination with growing urbanization in developing economies, are the prime factors responsible for the growing consumption of iron oxide pigments around the globe.
Asia Pacific to Showcase Lucrative Prospects through Forecast Period
Among the key regional markets, Asia Pacific showcases significantly high lucrative prospects. Meanwhile, the market witnessed decline in its shares for Latin America and Europe. In Asia Pacific, the market will benefit from rapid urbanization and the consequently rising demand from the construction and automotive industries. Besides these, various other factors are favoring the market’s growth in Asia Pacific. For instance, the market has considerably gained from easy availability of raw materials in the region. In addition, the manufacturing cost incurred in Asia Pacific is relatively lower as industries often find support of a growing economy and expanding construction and automotive sectors.
Some of the key market players of iron oxide pigments market are Lanxess AG, BASF SE, Huntsman Corporation., E.I. du Pont de Nemours and Company, Heubach GmbH, Kronos Worldwide, Inc., Cathay Industries, Hunan Three-ring Pigments Co., Ltd., Tronox Ltd., Applied Minerals Inc., The Earth Pigments Company LLC., Tata Pigments Limited, NUBIOLA, and Titan Kogyo, Ltd.
Kevin Yu
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