 |
Whether consumer goods, cosmetics, luxury items, or industrial goods: Black is considered the colour of choice for many plastics. On the one hand, it is noble and elegant; on the other hand, it stands for coolness and seriousness. In other areas, it looks plain and robust. The GRAFE GROUP, Blankenhain, has been a specialist in the black colouring of standard plastics for many years and has a broad portfolio of corresponding masterbatches. Based on these competencies, solutions are also being developed for more and more technical plastics and their corresponding applications, with the help of which brilliant black tones can be realized.
With the new BASE BLACK masterbatch for PP, an efficient alternative has also been developed for the most common automotive black shades, which, in addition to its permanent availability – sample quantities are sent out the same day for production tests – also offers a significantly better price level compared to an OEM direct colour. Furthermore, the masterbatch can be flexibly adjusted. It already achieves excellent colour values at standard parameters in the production process, which are within the OEM tolerance and only deviate slightly from the direct colours.
Another product group for which GRAFE supplies the ideal colourants are thermoplastic polyurethanes. „For TPUs, we have a wide range of black batches in our portfolio, both for esters and ethers. The degree of filling of the carbon black content here reaches up to 35 percent. In addition to cable extrusion and extrusion, there are also corresponding applications in injection moulding.“, explains Ludwig
The expert also refers to the high-quality and highly-filled styrene batches in the product range. „Here, the degree of filling of the carbon black is up to 30 percent, with an outstanding colour depth in black. The very fine-particle carbon black used to be a challenge that we have now been able to overcome, which can bring various advantages for the customer.“ The colouring is possible in various target polymers, including PC/ABS, PC, PS, SAN, ABS, PA/ABS, SB and SEBS, and the processing has been tested both in injection moulding and extrusion. The packaging sector in particular is an important target industry.
For applications in 3D printing, GRAFE also provides a black batch for PLA that is characterised by very good dispersion and homogenisation. „It is very well suited for filament extrusion and impresses with its excellent processability without agglomerates“, reports the head of product management.
For the production of staple fibres and in film extrusion, GRAFE offers a masterbatch that is suitable for black colouring of PET. „It has the usual market carbon black content of 30 per cent with very good dispersion“, so Ludwig. This is necessary in order to be able to colour fibres reliably. Very good carbon black and fibre quality are further special features of the product.
