What is Strontium Aluminate pigment?

Recent research efforts have produced several new inorganic compounds whose photometric characteristics greatly exceed those of zinc sulphide compounds. These materials include oxides of strontium aluminate (identified as SrAl) and other proprietary inorganic compounds. These compounds offer much brighter and longer-lasting photoluminescence, and they can formulate (unlike zinc sulphide compounds) to produce a range of colors.

While there are many different strontium aluminate compounds, the following is an example of comparative performance characteristics:

properties  MO·aAl ₂O ₃·bSiO ₂·cL: Eu ²⁺Dy ³⁺

Strontium aluminate products are currently available in flexible vinyl and rigid PVC sheets, and can be substituted wherever commercial zinc sulphide products are used for life safety applications. For the example shown above, it is some fifteen times brighter than commercial zinc sulphide products, and is clearly visible after many hours of total darkness.

Strontium aluminate and other proprietary compounds represent a revolution in the photoluminescent industry, which has relied on zinc sulphide pigments for the better part of a century. There will undoubtedly be new and better photoluminescent pigments and products introduced in the near future, including those with different emission colors.