PIGMENTS | MATERIALS
Increasingly stringent regulatory, environmental and performance demands mean pigment producers are looking beyond aesthetics in their developments. Peter Mapleston finds out more
Pigments move beyond aesthetics
The latest developments in pigments for plastics are a response to market demands that go well beyond aesthetics. Increasingly, they are providing answers to environmental questions. The trend to substitu- tion of heavy metals, through the use of new inorganic and organic pigments, has been ongoing for some years. Now, that has been supplemented with a growing interest in pigments derived from renewables. And, more recently, a strong focus on pigments that can replace carbon black. Carbon black is a highly effective pigment but it has a big disadvantage in applications such as single-use packaging, where it makes the plastics material virtually invisible in the automated Near Infrared (NIR) sorting equipment used in post-con- sumer recycling operations. So a host of new alternatives is now being made available from various suppliers. These are not as black as carbon, but in many cases that may work in their favour, with brands opting for very dark blues or blacks for a slightly different look. However, innovation is not focused solely on environmental concerns. With the continuing
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growth in the use of engineering plastics in applications that, for various reasons, benefit from colour, new pigments are emerging that offer the heat resistance to survive high temperatures in both processing and in use. This article takes a look at some of the latest moves by pigment suppliers to the plastics industry. Milliken is one of the world’s largest colorant
producers, with products for polyurethanes as well as thermoplastics and particularly — through its long-established ClearTint polymeric colorants — for PP-based consumer packaging. Its 2017 acquisition of Keystone Aniline Corporation — an important supplier of dyes, pigments, pigment dispersions and polymers — extended its offering into amorphous thermoplastics such as PS, PET, acrylics, and engineering thermoplastics (ETPs). Recently introduced products for ETPs include pigments suitable for resins with processing temperatures from around 250 to 300°C, and in some cases higher, says Sami Palanisami, Market Manager KeyPlast Colorants for Plastics. For some time, he says, there has been a lack of vibrant
Main image: Colour has to be matched by long term stability, favourable environmental profile, and compliance with increasingly stringent regulations in development of today’s performance pigments
September 2020 | COMPOUNDING WORLD 31
IMAGE: BASF COLORS & EFFECTS
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