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wowsers, Alvin just hacked his sugru better !

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May 29, 2010 Filed under: Hack of the Month!, Wonderful Hackery, tip

I met Alvin at the Maker Faire last weekend, and he said he wanted to try adding phosphorescent powder to sugru to make it glow in the dark – well he tried it and this the result!

He says: “I tried out the glow powder. I added a relatively large volume of orange glow phosphorescent powder to a pack of orange sugru. After it hardened, there was some loss in elasticity as compared with “unpowdered” sugru. The glow picture is overexposed and the actual glow is more muted but it’s noticeable.”
So so cool! Alvin, is the loss of elasticity enough to be a problem, or is it ok?

image

Posted by Jane
13 comments. Read them and join in!
 

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Other People's Comments

This is cool. Maybe Sugru can make glow-in-the-dark Sugru.

Jeff on May 29, 2010 at 6:58 am

Maybe !
Oh and Alvin, where can people get this powder?

Jane on May 29, 2010 at 11:22 am

The powder was purchased from Shannon Luminous Materials at
http://www.blacklite.com/Products/Super_Phosphorescent_Pigment.htm

The powder is encapsulated crystals that can be added to paint and mold materials.  It works best with translucent materials like resins or clear coat. 

To get the effect that you see here, I added alot of powder because I was curious how much the sugru could hold.  It held more than I expected…probably 1:2 or 3:4 volume ratio of powder to sugru.  A lesser ratio is probably better especially if you’re using black light. 

The loss of elasticity isn’t a problem.  Tear resistance is still high and it seems as durable.  It is harder though.  A little more experimentation would likely yield the right balance of glow vs flexibility.

Alvin on May 30, 2010 at 12:20 pm

so cool! what a brilliant way to find your keys :D I could definitely do with this when I’m rummaging around in my handbag, in the dark outside my house!

Karys on June 1, 2010 at 3:47 am

wow it looks like molten lava! Would be good for finding light switches too, what a great discovery.

Charlotte on June 1, 2010 at 4:53 am

genius!

Heather on June 1, 2010 at 7:31 am

Which type of powder did you use? The “Size and Color Chart” ( http://www.blacklite.com/Products/Super_Phosphorescent_Size_Color_Chart.htm ) shows several varieties, and types for Oil mediums and Water Mediums.

Thanks!

Chris on June 2, 2010 at 4:13 am

Should be easy for Sugru to product a phosphorescent color. Probably the same colorants that silly putty folks use to make glow in the dark silly putty. I’m sure that it would be a much better solution to mix it in while manufacturing rather than post purchase.

Also would be great to have a magnetic Sugru for making fridge magnets and such.

You should contact the folks at Puttyworld.com as they have the technology to mix any color into “silly putty”

Alan Claver on June 5, 2010 at 8:39 am

@ alan, thanks for posting!
we did do some work a few years ago on incorporating glow in the dark powder, but none looked as cool as this, the grains remained visable… 
There were also some unforeseen material behaviors that affected the physical properties (toughness etc) but I think we will investigate this further :-)  
Puttyworld.com is cool, they have some fab colours ! with sugru it’s quite complicated though because pigments often affect the chemistry.
Jane.

Jane on June 7, 2010 at 1:13 am

Adding the glow powder to the surface after the sugru is molded might be the best solution for glow-in-the-dark since any powder not on the surface is wasted powder. Many add-in powders (glow-in-the-dark or mica) have binders in them and should adhere to the sugru when still tacky.

SteveMac on September 16, 2010 at 7:59 am

How about molding the sugru as normal, then coating the surface in the powder before it cures? E.g., pressing the powder in lightly?

akoimeexx on October 24, 2010 at 7:52 am

Q… was the powder pigmented day red or was it white?
I have been looking at their product, want to use it with nail acrylic, had some really good red from readysetglo, but they don’t have red anymore (or 1oz sizes for some colors, sigh, I can’t use a lb).
I was considering Shannon… good to see results, very nice real red!
I’d never herd of sugru, can you sculpt wit it?
Problem with key in purse, glow won’t charge… esp red, no a 12 hour glow like most greens.. my rings charge while on my hand in daylight though…

Cerise on March 21, 2011 at 9:04 pm

@cerise, thanks for posting – I’m not sure about the glow power of the powder, I think the only answer is some experimentation… and yes you can sculpt with sugru but not as well as with materials designed for sculpting. For finer detail and finish, you can finish with a wet tool, or some people have used alcohol I think. Hope that helps!

Jane on March 29, 2011 at 2:56 pm