Xirallic is an alumina effect pigment made of aluminum oxide platelets covered with titanium oxide that shows a strong glitter effect with a distinct shimmering behavior. It was developed and patented by researchers of the company Merck KGaA in Japan. Because the pigment was produced at a single plant in

Onahama is a Cities of Japan, city located in Fukushima Prefecture, Japan. , Iwaki had a population of 337,765 in 143,500 households, and population density of 270 persons per km2. The total area of the city is , making it the largest city in the prefec ...

, production was severally curtailed following the

2011 Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami The occurred at 14:46 JST (05:46 UTC) on 11 March. The magnitude 9.0–9.1 (M) undersea megathrust earthquake had an epicenter in the Pacific Ocean, east of the Oshika Peninsula of the Tōhoku region, and lasted approximately six minutes ...

. The shortage of the pigment caused Ford and

Chrysler Stellantis North America (officially FCA US and formerly Chrysler ()) is one of the " Big Three" automobile manufacturers in the United States, headquartered in Auburn Hills, Michigan. It is the American subsidiary of the multinational automoti ...

to restrict the availability of cars and trucks in some red and black paints. The shortage also affected other automobile makes.

Hyundai Hyundai is a South Korean industrial conglomerate ("chaebol"), which was restructured into the following groups: * Hyundai Group, parts of the former conglomerate which have not been divested ** Hyundai Mobis, Korean car parts company ** Hyundai ...

replaced Xirallic with

mica Micas ( ) are a group of silicate minerals whose outstanding physical characteristic is that individual mica crystals can easily be split into extremely thin elastic plates. This characteristic is described as perfect basal cleavage. Mica is ...

in their paints. The plant reopened on 8 May 2011.

References

{{reflist * Pfaff, G., Huber, A., “Spezielle Effektpigmente auf Basis von Aluminiumoxid-Plättchen”, Welt der Farben(2005) * http://www.iol.co.za/business/international/closure-of-pigment-plant-limits-certain-colour-cars-1.1048481#.UCY2JJ3iaHc * http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/innovation/2011/1125/1224307878356.html

External links

Xirallic info page
from Merck KGaA Inorganic pigments Merck Group

See also

References

External links