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

Kunststoff Werkstoffe

Additive

Pigmente, bunt

Masterbatches

Farbstoffe und Pigmente

Kunststoffe

Photonik

Optik

Streifinger, Florian

Recycling

Umweltmanagement

Farbkonzentrate (Batches)

Farbstoffe

Effektpigmente

Kunststoff-Recycling

Kunststoffverarbeitung: Verfahren

Kunststoff-Aufbereitung

Farben, flüssig

What Will Be the Color of 2021?

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.

Clariant’s new laboratory in Krugersdorp, South Africa.

16:9

20:7

Kunststoffverarbeitung allgemein

Kunststoffverarbeitung

Compound

Thermoplaste

Kunststoff-Erzeugung

Clariant Expands Pigments Laboratory for the African Market

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

Colors can turn plastics products into real eye-catchers. Kunststoffe asked colorant manufacturers to predict which colors will be trending in the coming year.

Trend Report on the Coloring of Plastics

Garish or Necessarily Plain?

Effect pigments can be used to injection mold thermoplastic parts with a shiny metallic surface. However, non-uniform pigment orientation can lead to optical defects. Suitable simulation methodology enables defects to be predicted and prevented.

There is huge demand for automobiles that have metallic finishes. Plastic parts are often painted or electroplated for this purpose. Metallic effect pigments constitute an alternative. Audi and PEG are working on a simulation process for these pigments with a view to ruling out surface defects. 

Simulating Surface Defects in Parts Using Effect Pigments

Simulation

Software

Effective Prediction

Electrical equipment manufacturers place great importance on representing their brand through a specific color design. This applies to all visible components. However, these do not only have to be visually convincing, but above all, be convincing in terms of mechanical properties and resistance to fire.

Test with an 850 °C hot glow wire on a switching device: If a fault in the connection of an electrical device causes a cable to become overheated, for example, then a potential flame must extinguish by itself.

Flame Retardant Polyamides for Electronics

Elektrotechnik, Elektronik allgemein

Elektrotechnik, Elektronik

Flammschutzmittel

Grey? Exactly!

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

Dienstleistungen

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

Kunststoffverarbeitung: Maschinen und Komponenten

Anlagen Lebensmittel

Anlagen für die Additive Fertigung

Anlagen Additive Fertigung / 3D-Druck, andere

Filteranlagen

Flakes

Kunststoff-Rezyklat

Extrusionsanlagen

PET: From A to C

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

PVC-Additive

Andere Werkstoffe

Werkstoffe für additive Verfahren

Vernetzungsmittel

Compoundeure

Handel

PVC-weich (Compounds)

Verarbeitungshilfsmittel, allgemein

Flammhemmende Mittel, allgemein

Betriebsausrüstung / Betriebsmittel

Verarbeitungshilfmittel

Filamente für additive Verfahren

Gleitmittel für Kunststoff

Attention to Detail

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

Oberflächentechnik

Laserbearbeitungen

Lasermarkieren

Easily Legible and Durable Inscriptions

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

Masterbatches for High Temperature Polymers

Stabilisatoren

Brilliant Color Results

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

Hochleistungskunststoffe

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

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

Michael Ertl (54) will take over as head of the Inorganic Pigments (IPG) business unit at Lanxess with immediate effect. He will be responsible for the specialty chemicals company’s global business with inorganic color pigments, which are used primarily in the construction industry.

Michael Ertl succeeds Holger Hueppeler (53), who heads the newly formed Flavors & Fragrances (F&F) business unit at Lanxess following the successfully completed acquisition of Emerald Kalama Chemical.

Ertl joined Bayer AG in 1992 as a divisional engineer after studying process engineering at RWTH Aachen University and then held various managerial positions in the Technology Division. In 2005, he took over as head of the internal management consultancy Operational Excellence at Lanxess. Three years later, he moved to Aliseca GmbH, where he served as department head and site manager Krefeld-Uerdingen, Germany. In 2013, he took over as head of the Lanxess Chempark Office in Leverkusen, Germany. Since October 2015, Ertl has headed the Benzyl Products and Inorganic Acids business line within the Advanced Industrial Intermediates business unit.

The IPG business unit is part of the company’s Performance Chemicals segment, which achieved sales of around EUR 2 billion in fiscal 2020. IPG operates its largest site in Krefeld-Uerdingen and also has additional sites in Porto Feliz (Brazil), Starpointe Burgettstown (USA), Branston (UK), Vilassar de Mar (Spain), Sydney (Australia), Shanghai-Jinshan and Ningbo (China).

LANXESS Deutschland GmbH  

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

2021-08-09 Lanxess Ertl

issue 02/2023

issue 01/2023

issue 09/2022

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