Gold-coloured effect pigments having high chroma and high brilliancy, method for the production and use thereof

1. A gold-colored effect pigment comprising a nonmetallic substrate in platelet form and a coating applied to the substrate, wherein the coating comprises:

a) optionally a layer 1 comprising or consisting of at least one of tin oxide, tin hydroxide or tin oxide hydrate,

b) a layer 2 comprising at least one of metal oxide, metal hydroxide or metal oxide hydrate, where the metal ion comprises or is at least one metal ion selected from the group of metals consisting of Fe, Sn, Ti and Zr, and

c) a layer 3 comprising at least one of metal oxide, metal hydroxide or metal oxide hydrate, where the metal ion comprises or is at least one metal ion selected from the group of metals consisting of Fe, Sn, Ti and Zr, at least one of layers 2 and 3 comprises at least two different metal ions and at least one of the two different metal ions is an iron ion, and layers 2 and 3 are interrupted by a spacer layer,

wherein the spacer layer includes connections and cavities and wherein the spacer layer has a standard deviation of a relative height of σ Rma in a range of 0.2 to 18%, wherein the relative height h Rma is defined as a ratio of a height h ma to a layer thickness of an overall coating and h ma refers to a sum total of a layer thickness of optional layer 1, layer 2 and half of a mean height h a of the spacer layer.

2. The gold-colored effect pigment according to claim 1 , wherein the mean height of the spacer layer h a is determined by the following method:

the effect pigments are applied in a lacquer and cross sections are prepared and scanning electron micrographs analyzed thereof comprising the steps:

establishing the upper and lower substrate surfaces as baselines which are the longer side of the nonmetallic substrate in platelet form in each case and drawing the baselines onto the scanning electron micrograph of the transverse section,

analyzing the scanning electron micrographs of the transverse sections with the aid of AxioVision 4.6.3 image processing software,

drawing a plurality of parallel lines at 50 nm intervals at a 90° angle with respect to the upper and lower baselines corresponding to the two surfaces of the substrate in platelet form establishing a grid over the effect pigment shown in the scanning electron micrograph of a transverse section using a magnification of at least 50 000-fold, based on Polaroid 545;

proceeding from the respective baseline of the nonmetallic substrate in platelet form, in the direction of the respective outer layer 3 or the respective outermost layer, the points of intersection between the parallel lines arranged at right angles to the respective baseline with the respective interfaces of the optional layer 1 with layer 2, of layer 2 with the spacer layer, of the spacer layer with layer 3, and of layer 3 with the environment or with any further layer applied are analyzed manually, wherein in the case that one of the lines drawn at 50 nm intervals occurs directly above a connection point or a spacer only the respective point of intersection of the line at the interface of layer 3 with the environment or with any further layer applied is recorded;

determining the layer thicknesses of layers 2 and 3, the layer thickness of the overall coating, the layer thickness of further layers optionally present, and the mean height h a of the spacer layer by formation of differences, wherein the layer thickness of layer 2 is calculated from the difference between the respective measured points of intersection at the respective interfaces of layer 2 with the spacer layer and of either optional layer 1 with layer 2 or the baseline with layer 2 if the nonmetallic substrate in platelet form has not been covered with further layers beforehand, and the layer thickness of layer 3 is calculated from the difference between the respective measured points of intersection of layer 3 with the environment or any further layer applied and of the spacer layer with layer 3 and the mean height h a of the spacer layer is calculated from the difference between the respective measured point of intersection of spacer layer with layer 3 and layer 2 with the spacer layer,

wherein the mean height h a is determined by forming the arithmetic mean by conducting the method to at least 100 of the parallel lines arranged at right angles to the baselines.

3. The gold-colored effect pigment according to claim 1 , wherein the standard deviation of the relative height σh Rma is within a range from 0.3% to 15%.

4. A gold-colored effect pigment comprising a nonmetallic substrate in platelet form and a coating applied to the substrate, wherein the coating comprises

a) optionally a layer 1 comprising or consisting of at least one of tin oxide, tin hydroxide or tin oxide hydrate,

b) a layer 2 comprising at least one of metal oxide, metal hydroxide or metal oxide hydrate, where the metal ion comprises or is at least one metal ion selected from the group of metals consisting of Fe, Sn, Ti and Zr, and

c) a layer 3 comprising at least one of metal oxide, metal hydroxide or metal oxide hydrate, where the metal ion comprises or is at least one metal ion selected from the group of metals consisting of Fe, Sn, Ti and Zr, at least one of layers 2 and 3 comprises at least two different metal ions and at least one of the two different metal ions is an iron ion, and layers 2 and 3 are interrupted by a spacer layer, wherein the spacer layer includes connections and cavities and wherein the spacer layer has a network density of <85%, wherein the network density is defined as the number of connections or spacers per number of lines in %, determined from a grid of parallel lines drawn at 50 nm intervals at a 90° angle from a baseline drawn onto each scanning electron micrograph of a transverse section along the surface of a longer side of the nonmetallic substrate.

5. The gold-colored effect pigment according to claim 4 , wherein the network density of the spacer layer ranges from 1% to 75%.

6. The gold-colored effect pigment as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the nonmetallic substrate in platelet form is selected from the group consisting of natural mica platelets, synthetic mica platelets, glass platelets, iron oxide platelets, SiO 2 platelets, Al 2 O 3 platelets, kaolin platelets, talc platelets, graphite platelets, bismuth oxychloride platelets and mixtures thereof, and the nonmetallic substrate in platelet form has optionally been coated and calcined with at least one of metal oxide, metal hydroxide or metal oxide hydrate.

7. The gold-colored effect pigment as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the effect pigment comprises further layers and at least one further spacer layer.

8. The gold-colored effect pigment as claimed in claim 1 , wherein a proportion of iron oxide, iron hydroxide and/or iron oxide hydrate in the gold-colored effect pigment is within a range from 1% by weight to 45% by weight, determined by means of XRF, calculated in each case as the metal oxide and based on the total weight of the gold-colored effect pigment.

9. The gold-colored effect pigment as claimed in claim 1 , wherein a proportion of metal oxide, metal hydroxide and/or metal oxide hydrate, where the at least one metal ion comprises or is a metal ion selected from the group of metals consisting of Sn, Ti and Zr, is within a range from 10% to 75% by weight in total and a proportion of iron oxide, iron hydroxide and/or iron oxide hydrate is within a range from 1.5% by weight to 25% by weight, determined in each case by means of XRF, calculated in each case as the metal oxide and based in each case on the total weight of the gold-colored effect pigment.

10. The gold-colored effect pigment as claimed in claim 1 , wherein layers 2 and 3 do not include any tin oxide, tin hydroxide and/or tin oxide hydrate and a proportion of tin oxide, tin hydroxide and/or tin oxide hydrate in the gold-colored effect pigment is within a range from 0.01% by weight to 1.5% by weight, determined by means of XRF as tin dioxide and based on the total weight of the gold-colored effect pigment.

11. The gold-colored effect pigment as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the spacer layer has a mean height h a in each case from a range from 5 nm to 120 nm.

12. The gold-colored effect pigment as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the spacer layer is arranged essentially parallel to the surface of the nonmetallic synthetic substrate in platelet form.

13. The gold-colored effect pigment as claimed in claim 4 , wherein the nonmetallic substrate in platelet form is selected from the group consisting of natural mica platelets, synthetic mica platelets, glass platelets, iron oxide platelets, SiO 2 platelets, Al 2 O 3 platelets, kaolin platelets, talc platelets, graphite platelets, bismuth oxychloride platelets and mixtures thereof, and the nonmetallic substrate in platelet form has optionally been coated and calcined with at least one of metal oxide, metal hydroxide or metal oxide hydrate.

14. The gold-colored effect pigment as claimed in claim 4 , wherein the effect pigment comprises further layers and at least one further spacer layer.

15. The gold-colored effect pigment as claimed in claim 4 , wherein a proportion of iron oxide, iron hydroxide and/or iron oxide hydrate in the gold-colored effect pigment is within a range from 1% by weight to 45% by weight, determined by means of XRF, calculated in each case as the metal oxide and based on the total weight of the gold-colored effect pigment.

16. The gold-colored effect pigment as claimed in claim 4 , wherein a proportion of metal oxide, metal hydroxide and/or metal oxide hydrate, where the at least one metal ion comprises or is a metal ion selected from the group of metals consisting of Sn, Ti and Zr, is within a range from 10% to 75% by weight in total and a proportion of iron oxide, iron hydroxide and/or iron oxide hydrate is within a range from 1.5% by weight to 25% by weight, determined in each case by means of XRF, calculated in each case as the metal oxide and based in each case on the total weight of the gold-colored effect pigment.

17. The gold-colored effect pigment as claimed in claim 4 , wherein layers 2 and 3 do not include any tin oxide, tin hydroxide and/or tin oxide hydrate and a proportion of tin oxide, tin hydroxide and/or tin oxide hydrate in the gold-colored effect pigment is within a range from 0.01% by weight to 1.5% by weight, determined by means of XRF as tin dioxide and based on the total weight of the gold-colored effect pigment.

18. The gold-colored effect pigment as claimed in claim 4 , wherein the spacer layer has a mean height h a in each case from a range from 5 nm to 120 nm.