Pigment TOKYO collaborates with Nippon Steel Made Co., Ltd., which pursues the power of the world's finest technology and the power of making, and uses the technology of TRANTIXXII®, the company's design titanium, to use the world's first base material for painting expression. I will sell it.

This titanium is actually created by the accumulation of the world's most advanced technology ...

Some readers may think, "What is titanium in the first place?"

Therefore, in order to teach the basic knowledge of titanium, I visited the Tokyo headquarters of Nippon Steel Made in the early month as a preparation for a factory tour.

This time, I explained the various secrets of titaniums, the director of the Building Materials Room of the Titanium Sales Division of the Titanium Division of Nippon Steel Co., Ltd.(At the time of the interview)This is Tetsuya Maiyama.

He gave me a careful explanation of titanium Iroha

―What is titanium in the first place?

Titanium is a metal used for various purposes, such as the aerospace field, from a chemical plant, a power plant, a car, and architecture, because of its excellent characteristics such as light, strong, and rust.

In addition, the history of industrial production has been around 70 years, and it has a shallow history when compared to other metals such as copper, iron, and aluminum, and may be called "young metal".

-Certainly, there is an image that it is made using cutting -edge technology.

As you will see at the factory later, titanium requires a lot of power in the manufacturing process. In other words, it was a metal that has evolved since humanity can control electricity on a large scale, and the timing was in 1947 after the war.

Titanium ore (titanium oxide) as a raw material for titanium

If you extract a titanium alone using a large amount of power from a mineral, it will be a sponge chitan ...

It will be shipped as a pellet. From here on, it's still a story to become a colorful titanium

-So, is the raw material very rare?

no. Titanium is said to be the fourth metal on the earth, and exists in various minerals, including our familiar rocks and stones.

However, because of the fact that it is very strongly linked to oxidation, it does not appear as a metal alone in a normal environment, and even though it is abundant, humanity could not even find it until the 18th century.

Also, after the discovery, there was no technology to separate as a single unit from a strong binding with a powerful oxygen, and it was not easy to use it.

After the war, electricity was transmitted on a large -scale power generation, and the environment for using it was in place, and for the first time, a stable titanium was successfully extracted.

Actually, this titanium is already lined up in Pigment Tokyo. Do you know what?

-The titanium, such as sports equipment, feels far from us, but it's Titanium White.

That's right.

Indeed, nearly 90%of titanium production is manufactured for pigments.

Literally, titanium oxide white and titanium white

-But to titanium, there is no white image, but why is it white?

Titanium oxide, which is the raw material of titanium white, is originally transparent. However, as the particles are finely, the particles will look white and look white.

-So this lab, the design Titanium TRAN TIXXI, which is handled by this lab, has a very vivid color, but is it colored for colorless titanium?

This is only 100%titanium and expresses this color.

The keyword is "oxidized film".

-Oxidized film ...?

As I mentioned earlier, titanium is a metal that has a very strong connection with oxygen and is difficult to extract. Therefore, the surface of the titanium is constantly binded to oxygen and is covered with colorless and transparent film of titanium oxide. This is called an oxide film.

Since this oxide film has excellent robustness, titanium has a stable property.

Utilizing this transparent membrane, the Trantixxii® series has been completed.

―How do you create color changes with the transparent membrane alone?

Yes, I use the phenomenon of interference color. Light and transparent thin membranes create light refraction and synthesis due to prism effects, reflecting the light of a specific wavelength according to its thickness.

This phenomenon is that the sky looks blue and soap bubbles look like a rainbow color.

TRANTIXXII® also expresses the change in hue due to light refraction and synthesis by controlling the thickness of the oxide film at the surface layer. If the film is the thinnest, it is a gray metal color, but by gradually adding thickness to it, it is possible to express color from golden to blue, purple, pink, and green.

Relationship between film thickness and interference color (from the official website of TrantixXII®)

―It's a great technology.

Not only is it controlled, but the durability of the hue due to the thickness of the film is a characteristic of TrantixXII®. Although it is not well known, the general titanium material will gradually grow from the tie with titanium with a strong titanium, and the hue will change gradually over the years, and the hue will change. In 2000, we probably had a probability of minimizing the growth of the oxide film. Only Trantixxii® is the world's view of this technology, and its robustness has been demonstrated even in actual large architecture.

Kyushu National Museum (from TrantixXII® official website) constructed in 2004

Titanium is used on the roof of the museum. (Trantixxii® official website)

-Is this gold color made by applying that method?

This color is created by applying the technology called iontelling. This is a technology that uses ordinary object colors without using the principle of interference color.

This golden color is expressed by irradiating an electronic beam of a special coating of a golden substance called titanium nitride on the titanium surface.

By using this technology, we reproduce the design that has a glow like a real gold.

-Trantixxii® series is a collection of various technologies that Nippon Steel Made Co., Ltd. has a variety of technologies.

In addition, the color expression is endless, such as giving a matte texture on the surface and combining techniques. The TRANTIXXII® series is currently used in various buildings and products, with the processing technology backed by our technology and the beauty of its variations.

In addition to what you have shown today, a wide variety of modeling expressions are possible. Please look forward to not only the collaboration project with Pigment Tokyo, but also the future of the TrantixXII® series.

Well. The second is Nippon Steel Made Co., Ltd. East Japan Steel Maker Naoetsu areaWe will bother you and approach the latest technology. What kind of site is titanium made? Please take a look.

Corporate information

Nippon Steel Made Co., Ltd. Headquarters

2-6, Marunouchi, Chiyoda -ku, Tokyo (Marunouchi Park Building)

TEL: 03-6867-4111 / FAX: 03-6867-5607

https://www.nipponsteel.com/index.html

TrantixXII® official website

https://www.nipponsteel.com/product/trantixxii/

Art Materials Expert at PIGMENT TOKYO

Akira Oya

Born in 1989 in Tokyo. Master of Fine Art and Design at Nihon University College of Art. While working at PIGMENT TOKYO as an Art Materials Expert, he also continues his career as a visual artist.

Born in 1989 in Tokyo. Master of Fine Art and Design at Nihon University College of Art. While working at PIGMENT TOKYO as an Art Materials Expert, he also continues his career as a visual artist.