KT-100 Silver Pearl Pearlescent Pigment — Iriodin 100 Equivalent

KT-104 is a silk silver natural mica pearlescent pigment — a rutile TiO₂-coated mica grade in the KT-100 Silver White Series with a fine particle size distribution that produces a smooth, silky pearl luster rather than a pronounced sparkle. The "silk" character means the visual effect reads as a soft, even sheen with subdued reflectivity — closer to satin than flash — making it well-suited for cosmetics, fine coating finishes, and printing ink applications where texture smoothness and coverage uniformity matter as much as the pearl effect intensity. For formulators who find standard silver white grades too coarse or too bright for their target finish, KT-104 offers a controlled, refined alternative within the same natural mica substrate family.

KT-105 is a bright pearl natural mica pearlescent pigment in the KT-100 Silver White Series — a rutile TiO₂-coated grade positioned at the higher-brightness end of the series, delivering a more pronounced, directional pearl luster than silk or satin sub-grades. Where silk grades (KT-104) produce a diffuse, wide-angle sheen, the bright pearl character of KT-105 generates a stronger specular component — the pearl effect is more visible at direct viewing angles, giving finished surfaces a higher-gloss, more reflective quality. For formulators developing coatings, nail lacquers, cosmetics, and decorative products where visible pearl intensity is a key specification, KT-105 offers a practical mid-to-upper brightness option within the natural mica cost range.

At 10–100μm, KT-152 spans the particle size range where silver mica pigment transitions from a smooth pearl coverage into a flash silver effect — individual platelet reflections become visible to the eye, giving coatings, epoxy floors, and decorative surfaces a pronounced sparkle that finer grades cannot produce. The wider distribution makes it a practical single-grade specification for applications where both coverage continuity and visible flash are required simultaneously, without the surface texture limitations of coarser 40–200μm grades.

KT-153 is a glitter white pearlescent mica powder in the 20–100μm particle size range — a natural mica grade coated with rutile TiO₂ that produces a bright, glitter-like silver-white sparkle in coatings, epoxy systems, nail products, and decorative applications. At this distribution, the lower size cut removes the very fine fraction that contributes to background pearl coverage, concentrating the visual output toward individual platelet flash reflections — the result is a more glitter-like sparkle character than a standard 10–60μm silver white grade, without the surface texture limitations of purely coarse 40–200μm grades.

KT-163 is a shimmer pearl natural mica pigment powder in the 40–200μm particle size range — one of the coarser grades in the KT-100 Silver White Series, designed for applications where visible, bold individual-platelet sparkle is the target effect rather than smooth coverage pearl. At this distribution, individual mica platelets coated with rutile TiO₂ are large enough to produce distinct, directional flash reflections visible to the naked eye, giving epoxy floors, countertops, decorative coatings, and craft resin applications a pronounced shimmer that finer pearl grades cannot replicate. For formulators who need a coarse silver white pearl with reliable batch-to-batch sparkle intensity, KT-163 covers the upper-brightness end of the KT-100 natural mica range.

Silver white pearlescent pigments are the baseline of effect pigment formulation — the ones every formulator reaches for first. They're also the ones where small differences in particle size, substrate purity, and TiO₂ coating quality make the biggest practical difference in your final product.

Silver white pearlescent pigments are the workhorse of the effect pigment world. They underpin everything from automotive basecoats to nail polish, and the formulation logic behind them hasn't changed much in decades: mica flakes coated with titanium dioxide, tuned by particle size and TiO₂ crystal form to deliver a specific balance of whiteness, brightness, and sparkle. What has changed is the supply landscape.

Silver white pearlescent pigments are one of the most specified effect pigments across coatings, plastics, printing, and cosmetics — and KT-100 is Kolortek's direct-working equivalent to Iriodin 100. Same mica-titanium dioxide platform, same particle size range, same optical behavior. If your formulation was built around Iriodin 100, KT-100 slots in without reformulation. That said, "equivalent" doesn't mean identical in every edge case. What it means practically: the substrate, platelet morphology, and refractive index are comparable enough that you won't be redesigning your process to accommodate it.