What is the best Way of Coloring Plastics?

How much do you know about the color matching and coloring of plastics? What is the best way of coloring plastics? In this article, we will take you to understand more about coloring of plastics.

 

What is the plastic color matching?

 

We know that color matching is based on the three basic colors of red, yellow, and blue (three primary colors) to match the color that meets the color difference requirements of the color card and meets the color desired by the customer. Usually plastic coloring can also give plastics many functions, for example, improving plastics light resistance and weather resistance, giving plastics some special functions, such as electrical conductivity, antistatic properties, antibacterial properties and other special materials. And different colored agricultural mulches have the functions of killing weeds or insects, nursery seedlings and other functions. That is to say, some certain application requirements can be met through color matching and coloring. And color master batch is one of the commonly used plastic coloring methods in plastic production.

 

What is the masterbatch coloring method?

 

The masterbatch coloring way is that the colorant, carrier resin, dispersant, and other auxiliary agents are formulated into color masterbatch granules with a certain concentration of colorant. When the product is formed, a certain amount of masterbatch is added according to the coloring requirements, so that the product contains the required amount of coloring and meets the coloring requirements.

 

Color masterbatch can be classified according to the resin to be colored, such as ABS masterbatch, PC masterbatch, PP masterbatch etc. It can also be classified according to the coloring resin addition process, including injection molding, blown film, and extrusion. The color masterbatch product has high tinting strength due to the pretreatment of the pigment first. The dosage can be reduced, and the quality is stable, so, the transportation, storage and use are very convenient, and the environmental pollution is greatly reduced. 

 

The dispersant removes surface air by wetting and penetrating the pigment, and disperses the aggregates and agglomerates into fine, stable and uniform particles, so that it no longer aggregates during processing. The commonly used dispersant is low molecular weight polyethylene wax. For organic pigments and carbon black that are difficult to disperse, EVA wax or oxidized polyethylene wax will be used. There is a big difference between synthetic low-molecular-weight polyethylene wax and low-molecular-weight polyethylene wax made by polyethylene cracking. Other auxiliaries including coupling agents, antioxidants, light stabilizers, antistatic agents, fillers etc. will be added according to the requirements and varieties.  And the addition of brighteners is beneficial to demould of molded products and improves the surface brightness of the product. 

 

We know that the color masterbatch has good features of dispersion, storage stability and flexibility in use. The performance indicators of the color masterbatch include color difference, whiteness, yellowness, yellowness, thermal stability, oxygen index, melt flow rate etc. Of course, the fineness, migration, chemical resistance, and toxicity of the pigment are also related to the color masterbatch particle performance. Some indicators are very important for special purposes.