Structurally-colored articles and methods for making and using structurally-colored articles

Abstract

As described above, one or more aspects of the present disclosure provide articles having structural color, and methods of making articles having structural color. The articles incorporate a primer layer having a percent transmittance of about 40% or less in conjuction with an optical element. The optical element and primer layer impart a structural color to the article.

We claim: 
     
         1 . A article, comprising:
 a primer layer having a percent transmittance of about 40 percent or less and an optical element, wherein the primer layer and the optical element impart a structural color having at least one hue to the article.   
     
     
         2 . The article of  claim 1 , wherein the optical element is a multilayer reflector or a multilayer filter, wherein the optical element has at least two layers, including at least two adjacent layers having different refractive indices. 
     
     
         3 . The article of  claim 1 , wherein the primer layer further comprises a textured surface, and the textured surface of the primer layer, the primer layer, and the optical element impart the structural color. 
     
     
         4 . The article of  claim 1 , wherein the primer layer is on a top surface of a substrate of an article. 
     
     
         5 . The article of  claim 3 , wherein the top surface of a substrate is a textured surface of an article, wherein the primer layer is on the textured surface, and the textured surface of the substrate, the primer layer, and the optical element impart the structural color. 
     
     
         6 . The article of  claim 1 , wherein the primer layer is a metal oxide or metal oxynitride, wherein the metal oxide or the metal oxynitride is doped. 
     
     
         7 . The article of  claim 1 , wherein the primer layer is a coating, wherein the coating is a crosslinked coating including a matrix of crosslinked polymers. 
     
     
         8 . The article of  claim 7 , wherein the matrix of crosslinked polymers include polyurethane polymers. 
     
     
         9 . The article of  claim 7 , wherein the primer layer comprises a plurality of solid pigment particles entrapped in the matrix of crosslinked polymers. 
     
     
         10 . The article of  claim 8 , wherein the polyurethane polymers include polyester polyurethane copolymers 
     
     
         11 . The article of  claim 1 , wherein the optical element is substantially free of pigments, dyes, and a combination thereof. 
     
     
         10 . The article of  claim 1 , wherein the imparted structural color is iridescent. 
     
     
         12 . The article of  claim 1 , wherein the primer layer is a coating, wherein the coating is a product of crosslinking a polymeric coating composition. 
     
     
         13 . The article of  claim 12 , wherein the polymeric coating composition comprises a dispersion of polymers, wherein the dispersion of polymers is a water-borne dispersion of polymers. 
     
     
         14 . The article of  claim 12 , wherein the polymeric coating composition further comprises a plurality of solid pigment particles mixed with the dispersion of polymers, wherein, the solid pigment particles are selected from the group consisting of: metal and metal oxide pigments, carbon pigments, clay earth pigments, ultramarine pigments and a combination thereof. 
     
     
         15 . The article of  claim 12 , wherein the polymeric coating composition further comprises a solubilized dye. 
     
     
         16 . The article of  claim 1 , wherein the structural color is limited to one, two or three hues selected from a hue group, wherein the hue group is selected from the group consisting of cyan, indigo, violet, blue, blue-green, or purple green. 
     
     
         17 . The article of  claim 1 , wherein the structural color produced by optical element is a single-hued color. 
     
     
         18 . The article of  claim 1 , wherein the at least one hue is associated with a wavelength range in the visible spectrum, wherein the wavelength range is selected from: the range of about 520 to 490 nanometers, the range of about 490 nanometers to 450 nanometers, the range of about 450 to 400 nanometers, or a combination thereof. 
     
     
         19 . The article of  claim 1 , wherein a first layer of the optical element comprises titanium dioxide, wherein a second layer of the optical element comprises silicon dioxide, and wherein the first layer and the second layer are adjacent one another. 
     
     
         20 . The article of  claim 1 , wherein the optical element has from 2 to 10 layers.