Coatings

What is lithopone used for?

Lithopone powder is mainly used as a white pigment and filler in plastics, rubber, and paper products. It provides good whiteness and opacity at a lower cost, making it suitable for applications where high durability or weather resistance is not required.

Why do companies use titanium dioxide?

Companies use titanium dioxide because it is one of the most effective and versatile white pigments available. It delivers strong brightness, excellent opacity, and durable color performance, making it essential in products such as paints, plastics, inks, paper, and industrial coatings.

Titanium dioxide also disperses well and stays stable under light and heat, helping manufacturers achieve consistent quality and long-lasting performance. Beyond industrial uses, TiO2 is widely used in food, pharmaceuticals, and personal care products, where it provides a clean, uniform whitening effect and meets strict safety standards.

To sum up, companies rely on titanium dioxide for its high whiteness, strong hiding power, and reliable performance across a wide range of applications.

What is another name for titanium dioxide?

Titanium dioxide is also called titanium(IV) oxide or titania, and is often abbreviated as TiO₂. In everyday use, especially in paints and coatings, it’s commonly referred to as titanium white. In food and pharmaceuticals, it may appear on labels as E171 or CI 77891. All of these names refer to the same white pigment used in various industries.

What is the difference between lithopone and titanium dioxide?

Titanium dioxide and lithopone are both white pigments, but they perform very differently. Titanium dioxide is a pure TiO₂ pigment with high brightness, strong hiding power, and excellent durability. Lithopone is a mixture of zinc sulfide and barium sulfate, and it offers lower whiteness and weaker opacity.

Because titanium dioxide delivers much better overall performance, it has largely replaced lithopone in modern coatings, plastics, inks, and other applications that need strong color strength and long‑term stability. Lithopone is still used, but mostly in low‑cost or less demanding products.

In short, titanium dioxide offers significantly higher performance than lithopone, which is why it has become the preferred white pigment in most modern industrial applications.