Pacific Helmets can customise their helmets shell in over 24 different colours – including some specialty paint finishes. One of those speciality finishes is Photolume – a low light solution. Photolume is a light pastel green finish in the light – when working in a dark environment however, it’s a totally different story.
Photoluminescence is effectively “glow-in-the-dark”. The Photolume effect Pacific Helmets with this paint finish comes from light emitting strontium aluminate based pigments mixed in the paint sprayed on the helmets shell.
It works by way of photoexcitation, a process whereby electromagnetic radiation in the form of photons is absorbed by the pigments and electrons are excited to a higher level of energy in the atoms to the point of emitting light. They can be excited by white light or UV radiation between the wavelength of 200 – 450 nm.
The photoluminescent pigments are harmless, not radioactive nor toxic. They do not store excitation energy and therefore wane in light intensity overtime as the energy dissipates, hence they need to be “recharged” which can take place an infinite number of times. The longer is the photoluminescent pigments are excited by a light source the longer the item will glow, with an afterglow time of generally between 6 to 12 hours long with gradual diminishing brightness.
The benefit of a photoluminescent helmet is it doesn’t require an external power source to emit light in the dark. It glows naturally in low light environments as long as it has been under a bright light to “recharge”. Although it’s light intensity is not as high as a torch, it helps in providing conspicuity in a pitch dark environment where no other light sources are not available.
The helmet pictured with Photolume paint is an R6 Dominator (R6V) rescue helmet. Photolume can be applied to most Pacific Helmets model helmets – a surcharge applies to this specialty finish.
Head to the Facebook page and hit the “Like” button for our news to show up in your daily feed.
Facebook not your thing? Subscibe to Newsflash the Pac Fire monthly newsletter here.
