Safe photoluminescent paint?
Safe photoluminescent paint?
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Discussion

ChemicalChaos

Original Poster:

10,714 posts

191 months

Monday 14th December 2015
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Bit of an odd one here. I need to paint some small stripes on a set of bollards with something that will glow in the dark to avoid people walking into them. I know you can buy all manner of glow in the dark paints, but these are mostly reactive "Light recharging" types that glow dimly for a few hours after exposure to UV light. I need something that will glow all night and into the early morning (same for all the glowing tape you can buy online, but I dont want to use tape if at all possible as it only weathers and peels and looks awful in the day).
I also know that earlier types of self-glowing luminescent paint were rather unsafe to use due to radium.
A quick glance at wikipedia has suggested that modern paints are a lot safer, but nobody seems to sell it online - has anyone got any ideas please?
My next tactic was going to be finding a way to affix a few little tritium tubes to them, but this is a lot of hassle and they will be exposed and fragile, compared to some nice easy paint

Zad

13,024 posts

267 months

Monday 14th December 2015
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Paint them in a titanium oxide based paint (many white paints are) and shine a UV light at them?

Nimby

5,738 posts

181 months

Monday 14th December 2015
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Could you cannibalise an LED solar garden light?

.:ian:.

3,177 posts

234 months

Monday 14th December 2015
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Zad said:
Paint them in a titanium oxide based paint (many white paints are) and shine a UV light at them?
If you are going to do that then why not just use good old fashioned visible light??

Moonhawk

10,730 posts

250 months

Monday 14th December 2015
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The best photoluminescent paint is based on Strontium Aluminate which is totally non toxic - however it'll only last about 8 hours on a charge and will be quite dim beyond a couple of hours or so unless you have complete darkness.

See here:

http://m.glowtec.co.uk

You could use betalights which are tritium powered and last at least 10 years - but again they are quite dim and are discrete capsules rather than paint:

http://gardnertackle.co.uk/product/tritium-max-bet...