Luminous materials have important application significance in many safety fields, especially when the surroundings are suddenly dark due to an emergency, as they can provide effective visual guidance. However, as shown in our recent case with a Turkish client, the performance of luminous materials in different environments varies greatly. The brightness of the surrounding environment has a direct impact on its luminous effect. Today, we will share this case and explore how environmental lighting conditions influence luminous performance, aiming to provide customers with more effective application suggestions for luminous materials.

A Turkish customer is mainly engaged in the production of fire extinguishing additives. They considered adding luminous powder to their new products during the R&D phase, hoping that the sprayed luminous fire extinguishing agent can glow at the fire scene, in order to mark the location where the retardant is projected, avoid secondary projection in the same place, and provide guidance for helicopters, airplanes, or land vehicles.

After learning about the idea, we communicated with the customer and clearly informed that luminous materials are not suitable for bright environments such as fire scenes, because luminous light belongs to weak light, and the fire scene is bright. The naked eyes cannot perceive luminous light. It is difficult to meet customer needs. However, the customer insisted on sampling and testing, hoping to realize the idea through product design adjustments. In the end, the actual test results are consistent with our initial assessment.

The visible light emitted by luminous materials is considered low-intensity. To provide a clearer understanding of what “low-intensity light” means, let’s compare it with some common scenarios:

• Typical indoor lighting measures around 650 cd (candelas).
• Lighting in a movie theater’s seating area is approximately 200 cd.
• Display areas in shopping malls can reach 1000 cd.

In contrast, the maximum initial brightness of luminous materials is only 8–10 cd, and it rapidly diminishes to 0.3–0.5 cd within the first hour in darkness—merely 1% or even 0.1% of the brightness of common lighting.

Therefore, the human eye can only perceive luminous materials when the surrounding brightness is lower than their emitted light.

In the case of the Turkish client, firelight is an extremely intense light source. Other similarly bright environments include urban roads, commercial districts, and airport runways. All of them are filled with artificial lighting.

Even if the luminous material itself has a high brightness, it is difficult to play its due role in these conditions. Therefore, luminous materials are not suitable for these environments.

Luminous materials have the best performance in dark environments. The darker the environment, the more significant its luminous effect. Therefore, it is particularly suitable for closed places with less natural light or completely requiring electric light, such as: warehouses, factories, evacuation passages of high-rise buildings, as well as undergaround senarios including subways, passages, parking lots, mines etc,. During power outages in emergencies, luminous materials can serve as key safety signs to help people quickly identify directions and find safe exits.

As people’s attention to luminous materials continues to increase, its application has gradually expanded to the field of consumer goods. Today, luminous materials are increasingly used in indoor households, such as decorative ornaments, tableware, clothing accessories, power switches, etc., which can be improved by adding luminous elements to improve practicality and aesthetics, bringing a more interesting and practical life experience.

Through the above Turkish case, it can be seen that the application effect of luminous materials is closely related to the lighting conditions of the environment. Luminous materials demonstrate significant potential in many applications. However, to achieve their optimal glow effect, the environment must have low ambient brightness，even close to complete darkness.

Only under such conditions can the visible light emitted by luminous materials be clearly identified, allowing them to fully realize their multifaceted value in guidance, safety, decoration, entertainment and etc. We strongly advise clients to thoroughly consider the ambient lighting conditions of intended application scenarios during product design. This precaution helps prevent compromised performance due to excessive environmental brightness, ensuring more scientific and efficient implementation.