Pigments | colour feature PHOTO: SHEPHERD COLORS


Colour makes a come-back


Colour is frequently an expression of economic well-being. When money is tight, everything is grey; when things look up, bright and pastel shades return. Around the time of the last economic crisis, customers at many colour compounders were looking at ways to do away with at least some of their colours because of the expense it involved. However, that trend appears to have passed. Those


same customers are now on the look-out for brighter and more expensive colours—not just in commodity plastics but also in engineering thermoplastics where more costly pigments are often required because of their higher processing temperatures and more demanding applications. “Particularly in the US, companies are more willing to accept the costs,” says Chip Henderson, director of process improvement at Plastics Colour. So, against the background of an improving world


economy, it is probably no coincidence that several of the latest developments in the plastics pigment arena relate to bright yellows. There is also considerable development taking place in “cool” colours too - it could be that new blacks are the new black. This colour resurgence doesn’t mean that specifi ers


are throwing their money around, of course. Along the entire colour supply chain there is still a lot of working going on to put the house in order. Rationalisation is the order of the day among suppliers, while downstream


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Colour blooms in a buoyant economy. So, as the global economy


strengthens, pigment suppliers are developing new products to meet increasingly tough cost and


performance demands, writes Peter Mapleston


users are looking to colouring at the machine with solid or liquid concentrates as a means to help control their costs. And, of course, sustainability and environmental issues also play their part in driving progress with heavy metals still very much a top concern.


Cool solutions Managing thermal performance is one area of develop- ment for pigment producers. Nubiola says the infrared refl ecting behaviour of its high performance Nubiperf SRD ultramarine blue (Pigment Blue 29) and Nubifer Y-805K zinc ferrite (Pigment Yellow 119) make them suitable for incorporation into formulations that limit heat build-up. Among several cited advantages is the exten-


September 2015 | COMPOUNDING WORLD 23


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