Posted on Wednesday 7 November 2007
One of the hardest decisions when picking a new car is choosing the right color but the day when cars will be available in multiple colors could be here sooner than you think. Scientists have developed a new coating called ‘paramagnetic’ paint that has the ability to change colors at the touch of a button. One carmaker looking into the technology is Nissan, which has already developed a self-healing paint.
Before the vehicle is painted, a special polymer containing the special ‘paramagnetic’ iron oxide particles is applied to the car’s body. An applied electric current then adjusts the spacing of small crystals within the iron oxide particles and therefore affects their ability to reflect light and change color.
The process is perfect for metal objects like cars because a continuous small current is needed to maintain the desired color. When the vehicle is switched off, the car returns to a default color of white.
The coating has the ability to reproduce any color visible to the human eye and it takes less than a second to change the entire car. The first commercial applications could be on the market as early as 2010.
I wonder how easy it will be to apply paramagnetic graffiti to cars painted with this stuff. Instead of daubers and spray paint, all someone would need to tag the car might be a rare earth magnet, which are available all over the place. Some jurisdictions are putting age restrictions on spray paint… could similar restrictions on fridge magnets be next?