Issue 8/2017 - New pearlescent colorants expand the imagination of packaging manufacturers

New Pearlescent Colorants Expand Packaging Producers' Imagination
Recently, PolyOne announced that its ImpressTM pearlescent metallic effect colorant has been awarded the "2017 Ringier Technology Innovation Award for the Plastics Industry.
"
The colorant creates a non-traced, pearlescent metallic finish for ISBM polymer packaging products and is suitable for all colors
.
This technology allows packaging manufacturers to use unlimited imagination to produce a variety of metallic gloss effects of packaging, thereby attracting the attention of consumers
.
The technique does not contain any metallic or pearlescent pigment particles, so the effect on the recirculating fluid flow is much
lower.

At present, the conventional way to make polyethylene terephthalate (PET) achieve pearlescent metal effect is to add metal powder or pearlescent powder
.
Since pearlescent powder is usually an inorganic powder, it is inherently incompatible with PET and has an interface
.
This makes pearlescent powder easy to cause mechanical properties to decline, and the addition of too much pearlescent powder will also cause difficulties in processing, cost pressure, and difficulties in recycling
.
Compared to other metal effect solutions on the market today, PolyOne's Impress PET coloring solutions do not add pearlescent powder, achieve the same pearlescent or glare effect, and are less costly, have less impact on later recycling, and are more environmentally friendly
.