Besides compounds modified for special applications and lightweight components, sustainable materials are also becoming an increasingly important focus. In the additives sector, too, recyclates, the circular economy, and reprocessing are now playing a key role.

Not only Polymers but also Additives and Masterbatches Must Be Sustainable

Zubehör / Hilfsmittel Wärmebehandlung

Wärmebehandlung

Compound

Kunststoff Werkstoffe

Thermoplaste

PVC-Additive

Andere Werkstoffe

Werkstoffe für additive Verfahren

Masterbatches

Additive

Vernetzungsmittel

Farbstoffe und Pigmente

Compoundeure

Dienstleistungen

Handel

PVC-weich (Compounds)

Farbkonzentrate (Batches)

Farbstoffe

Verarbeitungshilfsmittel, allgemein

Flammhemmende Mittel, allgemein

Betriebsausrüstung / Betriebsmittel

Verarbeitungshilfmittel

Filamente für additive Verfahren

Flammschutzmittel

Gleitmittel für Kunststoff

Attention to Detail

Thanks to the composition of new formulations the company has been able to create color-intensive and heat-stable masterbatches.

Brilliant color results thanks to newly developed color formulations, also for high-temperature applications

16:9

20:7

Masterbatches for High Temperature Polymers

Stabilisatoren

Brilliant Color Results

Like lightweight design, customized products continue to remain on trend. These require materials which must fulfill a growing number of functions simultaneously and which in turn can usually only be implemented with additives and compounds. Sustainability is increasingly coming into the spotlight. 

Additives and Compounds Are Combining More and More Properties Songwon 

Verbundwerkstoffe / Werkstoffverbunde

Treibmittel

Pigmente

Fasern

Oberflächentechnik

Versatility Wanted Glass Fiber-Reinforced Polypropylene with  Long-Term Thermal Stability  

After the explosion of developments in polymer formulations over the last year, it is worth taking a closer look during Fakuma at details such as functional additives or application-specific modifications. Overall, lightweight design continues to spur development but defined surface characteristics are also in demand. The reported innovations do not just follow current consumer trends but also provide ideas for advanced product and process developments. 

Functional Modifications Characterize Developments in Additives and Compounds 

Hochleistungskunststoffe

Polyamide

Polypropylen

Füllstoffe für Kunststoffe

Additive Fertigung

Medizintechnik

Distribuenten

Polymers Can Be Expected Everywhere 

Plastics processors have a wide range of colors at their disposal to color their products. Choosing the right color can ultimately be the key to success. But colors are just as subject to trends as materials and designs. Kunststoffe asked manufacturers of pigments, masterbatches, and colorants which colors would be particularly popular in the coming year.

Colors inspired by nature will also be very much in demand in2021. They give products a more sustainable appearance

Trend Report on the Coloration of Plastics

Pigmente, bunt

Kunststoffe

Photonik

Optik

Streifinger, Florian

Recycling

Umweltmanagement

Effektpigmente

Kunststoff-Recycling

Kunststoffverarbeitung: Verfahren

Kunststoff-Aufbereitung

Farben, flüssig

What Will Be the Color of 2021?

geba Kunststoffcompounds GmbH  

https://www.geba.eu

Biokunststoffe

Kunststoffverarbeitung: Maschinen und Komponenten

Polyacetale

Polyacrylate

Polycarbonat

Polyester

Styrol-Copolymerisate

Michael Ertl will take over as head of the Inorganic Pigments business unit at Lanxess with immediate effect.

Michael Ertl takes over as head of the Inorganic Pigments business unit

Michael Ertl Succeeds Holger Hueppeler

A new process developed by the Fraunhofer Institute for Building Physics IBP is able to isolate carbon black ash recovered from old tires – allowing both the carbon black and the minerals from the ash to be reused.

Top, primary product from left to right: raw rCB, clean rCB (96+), pearlized clean rCB (96+). Bottom, secondary products recovered from the ash, from left to right: liquid sodium silicate or “water glass”, precipitated SiO2, precipitated ZnSO4

Technik Trend

kunststoffe-international.com

Kunststoff

Bauwesen

Baustoffe

Kreislaufwirtschaft

Carbon Black Recycled from Car Tires

Every year, several million tons of titanium dioxide are added to, among other things, plastics products. The EU Commission is currently considering the classification of titanium oxide as a suspicious substance which may potentionally cause cancer. A current study provides well-founded data on the use and recovery of titanium dioxide in plastics processing and recycling.

Fig. 2. Titanium dioxide use in plastics conversion in Germany [kt] [1]

Use and Recovery of TiO2 in Plastics Products

Verbände, Institutionen, Messen

Umweltschutz

An Irreplaceable Additive

An innovative process allows to fabricate thin, white polymer surfaces without white pigments. For that, the polymer is foamed with supercritical CO2 resulting in a fine structure of nanobubbles. Film thicknesses of a few 10 µm are sufficient to obtain a perfect white surface.

The white beetle Cyphochilus insulanus is almost completely covered with white scales

Porous Nanostructures as Replacement for White Pigments

Schäumen / Reaktive Verarbeitung

White without Titanium-Dioxide

Enhancing mixed bottle flakes by turning them into extrudable recycled crystalline polyethylene terephthalate (rCPET) was the goal of a joint development project looking to close the gap in the PET recycling system. By successfully producing a sheet made from recycled material suitable for high-quality applications such as thermoformed food trays, Gneuss, Sukano and Illig have demonstrated that this approach is indeed possible.

Thermally stable rCPET food trays made from multicolor APET bottle flakes

Upcycling of Mixed APET Bottle Flakes into Thermally Stable rCPET Food Trays

Extrusion

Polybutylenterephthalat

Schmelzefilter

Anlagen Lebensmittel

Anlagen für die Additive Fertigung

Anlagen Additive Fertigung / 3D-Druck, andere

Filteranlagen

Flakes

Kunststoff-Rezyklat

Extrusionsanlagen

PET: From A to C

Laser marking systems continue to be on the advance. However, using them for inscriptions is not always simple for all applications. In particular, colored or translucent components frequently present problems. These difficulties can be overcome by means of masterbatches specially developed for laser marking.

Fig. 1. Fietz Polychromos has developed a special masterbatch to obtain uniform coloring and an easily readable type face on translucent components

Masterbatches for Laser Marking

Laserbeschriftung

Laserbearbeitungen

Lasermarkieren

Easily Legible and Durable Inscriptions

Two new inorganic yellow pigments based on iron oxide and zinc oxide respectively are designed for coloration in a temperature range of between 220 and 260 °C.

The yellow pigments are used for all common polymer materials as well as for engineering thermoplastics even at the highest production temperatures

Yellow for High Temperatures

To be able to manufacture products from 100 % recycled post-consumer materials (PCR), Avient has developed appropriate colorant and additive masterbatches with PCR matrix.

Especially for packaging, post-consumer recycled percentages of 100 % are increasingly in demand

Verpackungsmaterial

Logistik

Standardkunststoffe

Additiv-Batches

100 Percent Made from Recycling Material

Michael Lüthi, a member of the founding family, becomes the CEO of Sanitized company group .

CEO change at Sanitized: Michael Lüthi (left) succeeds Urs Stalder

Personen

kunststoffe.de

Leadership Change at Sanitized

Clariant Expands Pigments Laboratory for the African Market

Clariant Pigments has welcomed the new year with the expansion of its new state-of-the-art pigments’ laboratory in Krugersdorp near Johannesburg, an African showcase for sustainable color technology.

To be officially opened and inaugurated in early 2021, the new facility will service the emerging Middle East and Africa paints and coatings market, forecasted a Compound Annual Growth Rate (CAGR) of more than 3% (2020–2025) [1].

In a significant commitment to its business in South Africa, Clariant’s investment in the laboratory, which has taken more than 12-months to complete, will increase local value-added color support services to the coatings industry across Africa, Turkey and the Middle East. The new facility also offers increased local employment opportunities and in-house skills development training in color technologies.

“Previously, we were only able to supply pigments as raw materials, but we are proud to now be offering a full spectrum of value-added services including customized color solutions, color matching services or the development of own color recipes to create an unlimited number of shades, for example tinting systems. To complete our services we also offer technical marketing and after sales support,” said Rossitza Dimitrova, Clariant Business Unit Pigments Head of Technical Marketing, Middle East and Africa.

Well known for being one of the market leaders in sustainability, all product offerings, for both decorative and industrial markets, as well as innovative solutions for wood coatings, will include pigments and pigment preparations that are lead free, contain low VOC (Volatile Organic Compounds) and are free of APEO (Alkylphenol ethoxylates).These include the following ranges:

<ul><li>Hostatint 500 and Colanyl 500, binder-free pigment preparations for decorative coatings</li><li>Hostatint A 100, a range of solvent based pigment preparations with high pigment loading and good rheological properties for industrial coatings</li><li>Hostafine, aqueous binder-free pigment preparation range for water based wood coatings for wood stains and glazes, e.g. for furniture or flooring</li><li>Hostatint A 100-ST, highly-transparent pigment preparations for solvent based paint systems for industrial coatings to add a quality appeal to wood, glass, coil and metallic effect coatings, e.g. computers, consumer goods, motorbikes</li></ul>

“In South Africa there is a growing demand for both locally produced and sustainable colorants and at Clariant Pigments we can now better serve the local and regional coatings industry with innovative and sustainable ranges of colorant solutions,” said Piers Kure, Clariant Business Unit Pigments Head of Sales, Sub Sahara, Africa.

[1] https://www.european-coatings.com/Markets-companies/Five-Facts-on-the-South-African-coatings-market and https://www.mordorintelligence.com/industry-reports/middle-east-africa-paints-coatings-market