In recent years, the beauty industry has witnessed a pivotal shift towards sustainability, with brands increasingly prioritizing environmentally friendly ingredients. One such ingredient that has gained significant attention is synthetic mica. Known for its shimmering properties, synthetic mica serves as a sustainable alternative to natural mica, which has been linked to unethical mining practices and environmental degradation. This article will explore what synthetic mica is, its benefits, and why it is becoming the preferred choice for makeup formulations.

Mica is a very common rock-forming mineral, widely distributed in crystalline rocks. Its general chemical formula can be expressed as:

X represents large interlayer cations, such as K+, Na+, Ca2+, Ba2+, Rb+, Cs+, etc. Y represents octahedral cations, such as Al3+, Fe2+, Mg2+, Cr3+, Ti4+, Fe3+, etc. Z is mainly Si4+ and Al3+; The ideal ratio of the additional anion (OH)- to (O)2- is 2:10, and (OH)- can be replaced by F- and Cl-. Most mica contain 4% to 5% water. Therefore, although they may be called mica, the chemical composition of different mica may be very different, for the purpose of research, we collectively refer to the minerals with this type of characteristics as mica group minerals.  

A group of parallel cleavages can be seen in a photograph of biomica under orthogonal polarized (left) and single polarized (right) mirrors.

The rapid development of new energy vehicles, batteries and other emerging industries also provides a new application scenario for mica products, such as power battery modules and energy storage system of mica cover plate, mica partition, mica monitoring board and composite mica tape and other products, the application of mica provides the industry with a fire safety solution.

1. Muscovite Mica

For example, the safe operation of high-speed rail cannot be separated from the escort of mica products.