Horological Meandering

AndrewD
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Super duper Lumi Nova

Hi All,

Following a recent stream of posts I went looking for some information on Super-LumiNova® and thought I would share what I found with you.

In general glow-in-the-dark pigments are either "self-luminous" or "phosphorescent" (sometimes called photo-luminescent). Self-luminous pigments continuously emit light due to the presence of radioactive isotopes. Phosphorescent pigments do not contain any radioactive material but are charged by an external light source and have a short afterglow.

Super-LumiNova is a proprietary, non-radioactive phosphorescent pigment of strontium aluminate activated with rare earth metals that gives a blue/green glow in the range of 490 to 520nm. Optimum excitation light is in the longwave ultraviolet range (200-450nm, but best below 365nm).

Super-LumiNova glows 10 times brighter and 10 times longer than traditional zinc sulphide-based phosphorescent pigments, although the intensity depends on the particle size, with bigger particles providing a brighter glow . It also has excellent light fastness, even under prolonged direct sunlight.

The patents for Super-LumiNova are held by Nemoto & Co. Ltd. of Japan, and LumiNova AG Switzerland is the licensed manufacturer.

SuperLumiNova glows green in its native state but can be admixed with other pigments to produce the colours shown below. (Note that “C3” has the brightest glow and this is reduced when other pigments are added).

Why don’t you take this opportunity to share you best lume shots here.

Andrew