To provide colors to the polymers, pigments or masterbatches are used. Let us begin by understanding the difference between the two. Pigments are solid and dry coloring substances. They are usually suspended in a liquid solution to create dyes, ink and, paint. Masterbatches, on the other hand, are more advanced. They are encapsulated by a polymer and feature specific concentrations of additives and pigments.
Both pigment and masterbatch are used for coloring polymer products. However, manufacturers tend to prefer masterbatch.
Listed below are ten practical reasons to choose masterbatch over raw pigments.
- It is easy to store, move and manipulate masterbatches as they come in pellet form. Pigments, on the other hand, are difficult to manage because they are in powdered form.
- Color concentrates can be conveniently handled during the manufacturing process when masterbatch is preferred over pigments.
- There is a high risk of pigments becoming airborne during the manufacturing process. This could result in the contamination of adjacent manufacturing lines.
- Masterbatches are engineered and designed for optimal dispersion in a polymer matrix. This enables for the final product to have excellent color distribution. Pigments, on the other hand, do not disperse well on its own.
- It is easy to match the binding agent used within the masterbatch to the polymer for a better melting process.
- The amount of pigment housed in a masterbatch is less. However, the amount of pigment required for a product increases when they are in their raw and powdered form.
- Masterbatch offers excellent color consistency for products than raw pigments.
Additive ingredients in predetermined ratios can be included in a masterbatch. This reduces the chance of variance during processing.
Additive concentrates can be included in a masterbatch to deliver advantageous traits such as flame retardancy, optical brightening, UV stability, and chemical resistance. This helps limit the number of feeds into your process.
You have better control over the opacity of a colored product with masterbatches.
Clearly, masterbatch offers the most reliable and efficient means to color your polymers.
Thanks to color masterbatches, obtaining the desired color tone to plastic and its homogeneous distribution to the material is achieved more easily than using powder pigment. It is possible to achieve more vivid and bright colors in terms of color with a white masterbatch.
Masterbatches used for color purposes are consumed in high amounts, especially in injection, film, blown plastic, and pipe production. Additive masterbatches are used in injection, blow molding plastic, pipe, and film industries. Filler masterbatches, also known as calcite filled masterbatches, are most commonly used in the film industry.
A liquid dosage form is called liquid color. Masterbatch is a concentrated mixture of pigments and/or additives encapsulated during a heat process into a carrier resin which is then cooled and cut into a granular shape. Masterbatch allows the processor to color raw polymer economically during the plastics process.
As masterbatches are already premixed compositions, their use alleviates the issues with the additive or colorant clumping or insufficient dispersion. The concentration of the additive in the masterbatch is much higher than in the end-use polymer, but the additive is already properly dispersed in the host resin. In a way their use is similar to uses of ferroalloys for adding alloying elements to steels.