colour feature | Pigments
masterbatches “allow for wider use of liquid colour and additive concentrates and enable processing efficien- cies that deliver high productivity at a low total cost.” The company can tailor carrier technology to suit
various applications and, together with its equipment partners, it offers an integrated line of metering, dosing and handling systems. “HiFormer enables fast and simple colour changes, maximum flexibility, and high reproducibility of the defined colour,” it says. Last year, Clariant launched a major initiative to build
Above: Lioplax is a metal-free high lustre pigment for polyolefins and PET from Toyocolor
Most compounders would rather sell compounds
and not worry about colour, says the company. “Yet, many of their customers have found it difficult to colour compounds at the press, particularly when moulding with combinations of opaque compounds that are glass-filled or with high levels of talc, flame-retardants or other functional additives,” it claims. “Ideally, it is better for the compounders and
customers to colour at the machine, as compounders make more money on longer runs of uncoloured compounds and the customer saves money. Plus, customers will not have to manage large inventories of pre-coloured compounds,” says the company. According to Carolina Color, the main difficulty of
colouring at the machine has been the inability to colour compounds evenly with traditional concentrate. “Flow lines emerge and it is difficult to overcome the opaque- ness of the compound,” it claims. The company’s new G3 colour pellets have high
Right: Carolina Color says moulding
products such as coloured stadium seating
presents
challenges due to high additive and filler contents
levels of pigment and effective dispersion and distribu- tion, which is said to make it easier to colour com- pounds at the press. It launched its preceding G2 pellets around seven years ago. The G3 pellets have a higher pigment content: (a red for caps and closures, for example, has 35% organic pigment compared to 29% in the G2 version, while a blue grade has a pigment loading 85% higher. Carolina Color says the pellets, which are claimed to be the highest pigment-loaded custom colours in the industry, are suitable for use in all polyolefins and engineering resins, and are effective in diverse applications such as packaging, housewares, lawn and garden care products, and transportation. Clariant says advances in its Liquid Vehicle Technol- ogy, which were shown at NPE 2015 earlier this year, also allow for higher pigment loadings and lower usage rates compared to typical solid colorants. The company claims its HiFormer high performance integrated liquid
28 COMPOUNDING WORLD | September 2015
awareness and acceptance of liquid colour and additive masterbatches among plastics processors, product designers, and brand owners in North America. “Despite the advantages that liquids offer in many applications, the North American market is still dominated by pelletized masterbatches,” the company said at the time. Peter Prusak, head of marketing for Clariant
Masterbatches North America, says many potential users have a negative view of liquids because “most suppliers are still offering outdated carrier and dispensing technology that has only limited applicability in today’s world.” According to Clariant, liquid masterbatches can be used in many of the same applications as pelletized material and in some cases they offer critical advan- tages, notably to the packaging and consumer goods segments. It says the high pigment concentrations in its liquid masterbatches work especially well in translu- cent and transparent polymers. “We recognise that liquid colour is not for everyone
and, because Clariant offers both solid and liquid products, we are completely unbiased,” says Prusak. Clariant claims to have made big advances in the development of chemically balanced blends of pig- ments, additives and carrier vehicles that extend the usefulness of liquid products beyond PET packaging and other traditional applications. New alternatives to
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