Super black

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Super-black is a coating developed at the UK's National Physical Laboratory. It reflects 10 to 20 times less light than the darkest conventional black paints currently available. When light hits the surface at right angles approximately 99.6% is absorbed and only 0.4% is reflected: by contrast black paint reflects about 2.5% of the incident light. However, super-black is even more effective at absorbing light that hits it at an angle; if the light source is at an angle of 45°, super-black paint reflects 25 times less light than paint. The technique is based upon chemically etching a nickel-phosphorus alloy.

The most obvious applications are in optical instruments to reduce unwanted reflections. A less obvious application may be artistic. In an interview with the magazine New Scientist NPL said that several artists are keen to use the new material. "When you look at the black, it is an incredibly beautiful surface. It's like black velvet."

Colors resembling gray.

					Shades of gray
Gray	Arsenic	Bistre	Black	Charcoal	Davy's gray	Eigengrau	Feldgrau	Liver	Payne's gray	Sable	Seal brown	Silver

Slate gray	Super black	Taupe	Purple Taupe	Medium Taupe	Taupe gray	Pale Taupe