Blackest black paint?

[Carbon60]

I’m not obsessed with black paint, but I do like to keep an eye on what’s out there, and here’s a new one with strong claims of being the blackest paint available (in the universe, apparently). Could be an interesting material to help reduce some of those unwanted internal OTA reflections.

https://culturehustle.com/products/blac ... 9bde26ce9b

Stu.

[marktownley]

I'm tempted by some for blacking the internals of the tubing on my CaK filter....

[Dennis]

Looks good, worth a try.
Im using for all of my adapters this one: https://www.noctutec.com/astronomie-sho ... flex-lack/
Its made specially for astronomy. Black enough for me.

[Carbon60]

I'm tempted by some for blacking the internals of the tubing on my CaK filter....

Hi Mark,

If I can get hold of some, I’ll send some your way. Apparently it’s only made in small batches and it’s going/gone fast. I’ve written to them to see if I can have a free tester sample to see if it’s likely to be any good for our needs.

I have some of his ‘Black 3’ if that would be of interest to you? That’s his previous blackest black

Stu.

[Bob Yoesle]

You're pretty much stuck with paints for small internal surfaces. Some people add carbon black to regular flat black paints. Spray paint fogging with standard flat black can work well; and if applied while paint is still tacky, blowing in a little carbon black (some use back printer toner) can also work well - but be sure to use a respirator!

These alternatives are a bit cheaper than the exotic paints marketed as the "blackest black," etc., many of which are reportedly a bit fragile once applied. It would be nice to see a comparison at deferring incident angles.

For large surfaces, almost all flocking materials are better than paint a low incident angles. The best many have found so far is black velvet fabric found at local fabric shops. The large areas needing to be painted for an OTA would make using the specialty "blackest black" paints very expensive to use. These black velvet fabrics apparently are also a bit better at reducing reflection than the paint and flocking materials commonly used for telescope tubes.

20231024_114916.jpg (469.43 KiB) Viewed 2788 times

Viewed at 90 degrees.

20231024_115010.jpg (466.78 KiB) Viewed 2788 times

Viewed at ~ 25 degrees.

[Carbon60]

Thanks for the information, Bob.

Stu.

[christian viladrich]

Thanks for the information guys !

I use flocking or paint depending of the situation (size of the reflecting surface).

[Bob Yoesle]

I recently had the chance to try out Musou Black versus plain flat black spray paint on a shiny aluminum mirror cell back plate, and the Musou Black is definitely darker:

Black anodization on the left, black spray paint on the right. Both appear to have about the same reflectivity:

Anodizing vs black spray paint.jpg (192.47 KiB) Viewed 1124 times

Areas that were left un-spray painted near electrical components were hand brushed with Musou Black, which appears blacker at most angles of reflection:

20231130_074254 sm crop.jpg (329.42 KiB) Viewed 1124 times

Note that the Musou Black is darker than the spray painted areas that are in shadow.

20231130_074324 sm.jpg (273.36 KiB) Viewed 1124 times

So while expensive in comparison, it would appear to be excellent for the smaller area interior surfaces like those of focusers, eyepieces, etc. It is also water based, and therefore could be thinned and applied with an airbrush, etc.

Bob

[Solarix]

Hello everyone,

a few years ago I followed the development of the blackest black.
A non-reflective paint based on nanotubes was developed for research and military applications.

A (I think) British artist secured exclusive rights to use it. A colleague of his was so annoyed by this that he developed a black color himself, which he now sells as the “blackest black”.

If you're interested in which one really is the "blackest black": https://www.surreynanosystems.com/about/vantablack

Bernd

[rsfoto]

Hi,

Yes the british artist Anish Kapoor bought the exclusive rights for Vantablack and the competition is now

https://culturehustle.com/products/blac ... aint-150ml

quote from Cultire Hustle website

*Note: By adding this product to your cart you confirm that you are not Anish Kapoor, you are in no way affiliated to Anish Kapoor, you are not purchasing this item on behalf of Anish Kapoor or an associate of Anish Kapoor. To the best of your knowledge, information and belief this material will not make it's way into the hands of Anish Kapoor.

https://www.thecollector.com/vantablack ... ntroversy/

[AndiesHandyHandies]

Hi

I use Black3 on 180 grit grey emery paper for small pop in springy self holding cylinders.

Cheers. Andrew.

[alexm391]

Interesting find, Stu! As you say, minimizing internal reflections is an important consideration for solar equipment. This new ultra-black paint does seem uniquely equipped to absorb rather than reflect stray light.A 99.96% light absorption rating is astonishing. For reference, other "blackest black" coatings still allow over 10x more reflectance. So this really appears an order of magnitude darker.They don't provide much technical detail on the composition. But using carbon nanotubes to construct a forest of microscopic light traps makes sense. And the matte finish likely helps eliminate surface glare as well.While seemingly pricey for paint, a little could coat a large area of OTA internals quite effectively. And reduced internal scattering should improve image contrast. This might work nicely combined with traditional flocking to absorb both light and mechanical energy.Thanks for sharing this discovery! I may have to try a sample myself to compare performance against other blacks. Please let the community know if you end up testing applications for it in any optical systems. A very intriguing material advancement.High Quality Business & Legal Templates. Download free contracts, agreements, letter templates and high-quality and stunning graphics instantly.An investment contract is a legally binding agreement between two parties where one party invests money in exchange for a financial return.