Magnetic assemblies and processes for producing optical effect layers comprising oriented non-spherical oblate magnetic or magnetizable pigment particles

1. A magnetic assembly for producing an optical effect layer on a substrate surface, comprising:

a) a first magnetic-field generating device comprising n sets of spaced apart bar dipole magnets, with n being an integer equal to or bigger than 1,

wherein each of said bar dipole magnets has its North-South magnetic axis substantially parallel to the substrate surface,

wherein, for each set of said n sets, bar dipole magnets have their North pole pointing in a same direction and are substantially parallel to each other, and

wherein the bar dipole magnets of the first magnetic-field generating device are at least partially or fully embedded in a polygonal-shaped supporting matrix, and

b) a second magnetic-field generating device comprising one or more square-shaped or rectangle-shaped dipole magnets having their North-South magnetic axis substantially parallel to the substrate surface;

wherein the vector sum H 1 of the magnetic axes of the bar dipole magnets of the first magnetic-field generating device and the vector sum H 2 of the one or more square-shaped or rectangle-shaped dipole magnets form an angle α in the range from about 5° to about 175° or in the range from about 185° to about 355°,

wherein the first magnetic-field generating device is placed below or on top of the second magnetic-field generating device, and

wherein the first magnetic-field generating device and the second magnetic-field generating device are coaxial with respect to one another.

2. The magnetic assembly according to claim 1 , wherein the first magnetic-field generating device comprises n sets of spaced apart bar dipole magnets, wherein said n sets of bar dipole magnets are arranged in a loop-shaped form.

3. The magnetic assembly according to claim 2 , wherein the first magnetic-field generating device comprises two sets of two spaced apart bar dipole magnets.

4. The magnetic assembly according to claim 3 , wherein the two sets of two spaced apart bar dipole magnets are arranged in a square-shaped form or a diamond-shaped form.

5. The magnetic assembly according to claim 1 , wherein for each set of the n sets, the spaced apart bar dipole magnets of the first magnetic-field generating device have the same shape, the same dimensions and are made of the same material.

6. The magnetic assembly according to claim 1 , wherein the polygonal-shaped supporting matrix is a square-shaped supporting matrix or a rectangle-shaped supporting matrix.

7. The magnetic assembly according to claim 1 , further comprising one or more pole pieces, wherein said one or more pole pieces are placed below the first magnetic-field generating device and below the second magnetic-field generating device.

8. The magnetic assembly according to claim 1 , wherein the angle α is in the range from about 60° to about 120° or in the range from about 240° to about 300°.

9. The magnetic assembly according to claim 1 , wherein the first magnetic-field generating device comprises n sets of two or more bar dipole magnets.

10. The magnetic assembly according to claim 2 , wherein the first magnetic-field generating device comprises n sets of two or more bar dipole magnets, and wherein said n sets of bar dipole magnets are arranged in a square-shaped form or a diamond-shaped form.

11. The magnetic assembly according to claim 7 , wherein the one or more pole pieces are square-shaped or rectangle-shaped pole pieces.

12. A printing apparatus comprising a rotating magnetic cylinder or a flatbed printing unit, the rotating magnetic cylinder or the flatbed printing unit comprising at least one magnetic assembly recited in claim 1 .

13. A process for producing an optical effect layer on a substrate, the optical effect layer exhibiting an ortho-parallactic effect, said process comprising the steps of:

i) applying on a substrate surface a radiation curable coating composition comprising non-spherical oblate magnetic or magnetizable pigment particles, said radiation curable coating composition being in a first state so as to form a coating layer;

ii) exposing the radiation curable coating composition to a magnetic field of the magnetic assembly recited in claim 1 that is static, so as to orient at least a part of the non-spherical oblate magnetic or magnetizable pigment particles;

iii) at least partially curing the radiation curable coating composition of step ii) to a second state so as to fix the non-spherical oblate magnetic or magnetizable pigment particles in their adopted positions and orientations.

14. The process according to claim 13 , wherein step iii) is carried out by UV-Vis light radiation curing.

15. The process according to claim 14 , wherein step iii) is carried out partially simultaneously with step ii).

16. The process according to claim 13 , wherein at least a part of the plurality of non-spherical oblate magnetic or magnetizable particles is constituted by non-spherical oblate optically variable magnetic or magnetizable pigment particles.

17. The process according to claim 16 , wherein the non-spherical optically variable magnetic or magnetizable pigments are selected from the group consisting of magnetic thin-film interference pigments, magnetic cholesteric liquid crystal pigments and mixtures thereof.

18. An optical effect layer produced by the process recited in claim 13 .