BMW has unveiled a new X6 painted in Vantablack that
it will show to the world at the upcoming Frankfurt Auto Show. Vantablack is known as the
world’s blackest black and videos online of objects painted in Vantablack truly
boggle the mind. Vantablack was first introduced by a company called Surrey
NanoSystems in 2014. It absorbs 99.965 per cent of light making the human eye
view a 3D object as it was 2D.
The surface is made up of tiny carbon nanotubes that
are around 5000 times thinner than a human hair, meaning approximately one
billion of these tiny nanotubes fit into one square centimeter. This means that
virtually all light hitting the surface is absorbed rather than reflected. As
far as we’re aware, this is the first time a car has been painted Vantablack.
The Vantablack adorning the BMW X6 is the company’s
VBX2 variant that was initially developed for use in architectural and
scientific applications. Unlike the original Vantablack finish that absorbs
almost all light, VBX2 allows for one per cent of light to be reflected so
those viewing the car can still get a sense of the car’s shape. The coating can
be sprayed on as if it was regular paint.
