About 2/3 to 3/4 of Cadmium produced worldwide is used in the production of Ni-Cd Batteries. About half the remaining consumption or 2,000 tons annually, is used to produce colored Cadmium pigments. The principal pigments are a family of yellow/orange/red cadmium sulfides and sulfoselenides. Brilliantly colored, with good permenence and tinting power, Cadmium Yellow, Cadmium Orange, and Cadmium Red are familiar artist colors, but of little use in architectural paints. Their greatest use is in the coloring of plastics and specialty paints which must resist processing or service temperatures up to 300C. The color-fastness or permenence of Cadmium requires protection from a tendency to slowly form carbonate salts with exposure to air. Most paint vehicles accomplish this, but Cadmium colors will fade in fresco or mural painting. Cadmium pigments can also color glass and ceramic glazes, not by solution, but colloidal dispersion within the glass. The lenses of red stoplights use this technique. General Name, Symbol, Number Cadmium, Cd, 48 Chemical series Transition metals Group, Period, Block 12, 5, d Density, Hardness 8650 kg/m3, 2 Appearance Silvery gray metallic Atomic properties Atomic weight 112. ... The nickel-cadmium battery (commonly abbreviated NiCd or NiCad) is a popular type of rechargeable battery for portable electronics and toys. ... For information on the U.S. borough, see Paint, Pennsylvania. ... The term plastics covers a range of synthetic or semi-synthetic polymerization products. ...