INCO coloring * BY VIGORSS
Inco Colored
Stainless Steel Sheet
Colour grown inside the steel’s own oxide film — bronze,
gold, red, purple, blue and green on 304 and 316L. No
pigment. No coating. Nothing that can fade in sunlight.
- Interference film
- 0.02 – 0.36 µm
- Colour source
- No pigment, no coating
- Finish designation
- EN 10088-2 · 2L
- Grades
- 304 / 316L
- Base finishes
- 8 available
What Is Inco Colored Stainless Steel?
Inco coloring is an electrochemical process that thickens the chromium-oxide passive film already on the steel’s surface. As the film grows from about 0.02 µm to 0.36 µm, light interference within it reads as bronze, gold, red, purple, blue or green. A cathodic hardening step then consolidates the film against abrasion.
No pigment, no coating — the colour is the steel’s own oxide layer. That is why sunlight cannot fade it.
Developed and patented in the early 1970s by INCO, The International Nickel Company. The name is a company, not an acronym.
The Colour Is the Film Thickness
Every Inco colour comes out of the same chemistry. Only the thickness of the oxide film
changes — and the sequence always runs in the same order.
The film runs from about 0.02 µm at the bronze end to 0.36 µm at the green end. The thicker it gets, the further along the sequence the colour moves. But the colours are not spaced evenly, so we quote by colour name and physical sample — never by a thickness number.
One more thing before you write a spec: Inco is a palette, not a colour system. We cannot match a RAL or Pantone number, because the colour comes from film thickness, not from mixed pigment. What we can do is sending you a real swatch on your chosen finish, so you design around what the process actually gives.
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Bronze
Our usual recommendation for a first façade. Warm, easy to get past a client, and dark enough to hide dirt better than the lighter tones.
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Champagne
Interior wall panels, lift lobbies, hotels. Use 316L if the project is near the coast.
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Gold
Trim, screens and feature panels. Looks strongest over a mirror finish.
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Red
Best as an accent. Hard to keep even across a large single-colour elevation.
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Purple
Retail interiors and exhibition work, where the shifting colour is part of the effect.
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Blue
A common façade choice. The colour shift with viewing angle shows up most clearly in this tone.
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Green
The thickest film and the deepest colour. Looks almost black when you view it at a shallow angle.
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Grey / Charcoal
Quiet exteriors. Note: ferritic grades like 430 can only be made dark grey by this process.
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Black
The classic heavy façade colour. It clads the Reiyukai Shakaden temple in Tokyo, in service since 1975.
Put this line in your specification
Inco colour changes with viewing angle — that is how it works, not a fault. A flat panel looks different at 30° and at 90°. A curved panel shifts across its own surface. On a façade that shimmer is what you are paying for, so write it into the spec as a feature, not as a colour tolerance to be measured.
Choose the Base Finish First
The colour film is thin and see-through, so the finish underneath shows right through it. That means the finish does more than add texture — it changes how the colour looks.
Choose the finish first, then the colour. Doing it the other way round wastes a lot of samples.
The table below shows how each of the five behaves once coloured. Before you commit, ask us for a swatch on that exact finish. No screen shows an interference colour properly.
| Base finish | How Inco colour reads on it | Typical use |
|---|---|---|
| Mirror 8K | Most saturated and most reflective; the angle shift is at its most dramatic. Also shows fingerprints and scratches most readily. | Feature walls, ceilings, art |
| Hairline | Colour draws out along the grain into a fine metallic sheen. The most architectural of the five. | Façades, column cladding |
| Satin | Soft, low-reflectance, colour reads more restrained. | Interior wall panels |
| Vibration | Non-directional swirl; the most forgiving finish for large runs of panels, because it disguises minor variation between sheets. | Large elevations, lift interiors |
| Sand-blasted | Matt and diffuse. The deepest, quietest version of any colour, with almost no specular reflection. | Museums, low-glare façades |
Specifications
| Specification | Details |
|---|---|
| Grades | 304 / 316L |
| Thickness | 0.5 – 3.0 mm |
| Width | 1219 / 1500 mm |
| Length | up to 4000 mm |
| Colours | Bronze, gold, red, purple, blue, green, grey, black |
| Base finishes | Mirror, hairline, satin, vibration, sand-blasted |
| Patterns | Water ripple / 5WL / 6WL and other patterns |
| Interference film | 0.02 – 0.36 µm, cathodically hardened |
| Coverage | A-side colour matched to the approved standard plate. B-side is coloured but not colour-matched. |
| Options | Anti-fingerprint (AFP) top layer · PE protective film · cut to size · CNC bending and perforation |
| Heat resistance | approx. 200 °C |
| Standard reference | EN 10088-2 finish designation 2L (coloured cold-rolled flat product). Base sheet to ASTM A480 / EN 10088-2. |
| Packing | Interleaved paper, wooden or iron pallet, seaworthy export packing |
Fifty Years of Evidence
Inco coloring has been on buildings since the 1970s, which means the durability question does not have to be answered with a laboratory test. It can be answered with addresses.
| Project | Year | What it demonstrates |
|---|---|---|
| Reiyukai Shakaden Temple, Tokyo | 1975 | Roughly 18,500 m² of black Inco-coloured stainless, still in service after five decades — the longest continuous record the process has. |
| Wales Millennium Centre, Cardiff | 2004 | Champagne-coloured Type 316 in a coastal, salt-laden environment. The reference case for why grade selection matters. |
| Amazon headquarters sculpture, Seattle | – | Electrochemically coloured woven Type 316, showing the process holds up on complex three-dimensional form. |
| Electrochemically coloured roof panels | 30 yr | Documented by Euro Inox with no measurable colour change after thirty years of exposure. |
Frequently Asked Questions
Below are some frequently asked questions regarding inco colored stainless steel sheet wholesale and service, if you can’t find what you’re looking for, please just contact with us.
No. Stainless steel cannot be anodized in the way aluminium is. Anodizing grows a thick, porous oxide layer which is then dyed. Inco coloring thickens the chromium-oxide passive film the steel already has, and the colour comes from light interference within that film rather than from any dye. If a quotation says "anodized stainless steel," ask the supplier which process they are actually running.
Bronze, gold, red, purple, blue and green, plus grey and black. The sequence is fixed by physics — as the oxide film grows from about 0.02 µm to 0.36 µm, the colour moves through that order. It is a palette rather than a colour system, so RAL and Pantone numbers cannot be matched. Ask us for physical swatches on your chosen base finish.
Yes, substantially. The film is translucent, so the finish underneath shows through it. The same blue is a deep jewel tone on a mirror finish, a directional metallic sheen on hairline, and a soft matt haze on bead-blasted. Choose the base finish first, then the colour.
0.5–3.0 mm thick, in widths of 1219, 1250 and 1500 mm, up to 4000 mm long.
No. A scratched, welded or corrosion-stained panel is replaced, not repaired — the colour cannot be polished, touched up or blended back in. This is why we ask every project to order 2–3% attic stock from the same production lot at the outset.
Low-pressure hosing with water and a mild detergent, then a soft cloth or soft plastic-bristle brush for stubborn soiling. No high-pressure jetting, no abrasive pads or powders, and no chloride-based or acidic cleaners. Abrasion removes the colour permanently, and unlike plain stainless it cannot be polished back.
Physical samples ship within a few working days. Production lead time depends on colour, base finish and quantity — tell us the sheet size, grade, colour and total area and we will confirm both the lead time and the minimum order in writing, usually the same day.
Ready to elevate your design with the sophistication of inco colored stainless steel? Our team is here to help you bring your vision to life.
- Expert consultation for your specific project needs
- Custom fabrication to your exact specifications
- Worldwide shipping with careful packaging
- Installation support and maintenance guidance
