Pigments & Additives Division Plastic Business Exactly your chemistry. The Coloration of Plastics and Rubber The Coloration of Plastics and Rubber Foreword Note on the thermal stability of diarylide pigments The coloration of plastics is an area of technology in which Pigments indicated with the symbol ❖ throughout this bro- everyone has an opinion, everyone else can do it better and chure are collectively identified chemically as diarylide pig- cheaper and where the mistakes are highly visible and ments. Due to the potential for thermal decomposition (refer usually expensive. to the relevant material safety data sheets) from these pig- ments, a heat stability of 200 °C is given, even when the This brochure sets out to provide the reader with a practical coloring attributes of the pigment would remain stable at insight in to the polymers, processes and applications app- higher temperatures. lying to the plastics industry and the coloring solutions avai- lable from the Clariant ranges of organic colorants. Further information can be found in ETAD INFORMATION NOTICE No. 2 “Thermal Decomposition of Diarylide Section 1 of this brochure is an introduction and guide to Pigments” - September 1990. the coloration of plastics and includes chapters covering colorant classification, colorant selection criteria and an overview of the Clariant product ranges for plastics colora- Clariant shade cards and technical brochures tion. This is followed by a product by product guide to the main areas of application using the following key: The Business; Marketing Plastics of Clariant strives to pro- vide a high level of technical information regarding its pro- ■ suitable ducts. Technical brochures and shade cards are continually ● limited suitability (preliminary testing required) being updated to include new products, cater for new appli- − not suitable cations and to provide customers with the relevant techni- cal data in order to meet the demands of a fast changing Section 2 provides a concise guide; polymer by polymer to industry. Please contact your local Clariant sales organisati- the coloring possibilities with Clariant organic colorants on or regional Technical Application Centre to ensure that which includes polymer properties, processing and coloring the most up to date information is on hand and with any techniques and details of the individual colorants, their sui- questions that may arise. tability for an application and their application data in the selected polymer and process. Addresses of the Regional Technical Centers can be found on page 85 of this brochure. The coloring attributes, technical data and application values given are derived from Clariant laboratory testing Clariant also provides a number of services, product data under specific conditions which are detailed in Section 3 sheets and technical information on the Internet. For infor- of this brochure. These may differ according to actual wor- mation specific to plastic applications click on to: king conditions, e.g. machine related data, applied concen- trations, exposure to temperature and shear stress over http://www.pa.clariant.com prolonged periods of time, and/or the type and grade of polymer used. Users are therefore recommended to verify the suitability of a colorant for a particular use with prelimi- nary trials under the relevant working conditions. Additionally in Section 3 a chapter concerns itself with Colour Index registrations, chemical designations, the phy- sical attributes of the colorants and includes chemical resi- stance data. A full index to the sections and chapters contained within this brochure can be found on the following page. 3 Contents Contents 1 Introduction to the Coloration of 2.3 Polyolefins 36 Plastics and Product Overviews 7 Polyethylene (PE) 36 Polypropylene (PP) 36 1.1 Introduction 8 Cyclic Olefin Copolymers (COC) 37 Coloring recommendations and 1.2 Coloration selection criteria 9 application data 38 Influence of weathering 40 1.3 The Clariant colorant ranges 10 Weather fastness data in HDPE 41 1.4 Overview of the product ranges and main 2.4 Styrenics 42 fields of application 11 Polystyrene (PS) 42 Acrylonitrile Butadiene Styrene (ABS) 42 PV Fast pigments 11 Styrene Acrylonitrile (SAN) 43 Graphtol pigments 12 Coloring recommendations and DrizPearls 12 application data 44 Solvaperm dyes 13 Polysynthren polymer soluble colorants 13 Hostasol fluorescent dyes 14 2.5 Polymethyl methacrylate (PMMA) 49 Hostaprint pigment preparations 14 Coloring recommendations and Hostasin pigment preparations 14 application data 49 Hostacryl pigment preparations 14 2.6 Coloration of Synthetic Polymer Fibers 51 1.5 Optical Brightening Agents (OBA) 15 Polypropylene fibers 51 Overview of the Hostalux and Leucopure Polyester fibers 51 ranges and areas of application 16 Polyamide fibers 51 Hostalux and Leucopure fastness properties 16 Coloring recommendations and application data 52 Textile fastness properties of colorants 55 2 Polymer by Polymer guide 17 in PET fibers 2.1 PVC and Plastisols 19 Polyacrylonitrile fibers 57 U-PVC 19 P-PVC 19 2.7 Coloration of Engineering Polymers 58 Hostaprint preparations 19 Engineering Polymers 58 Gravure screen printing 20 Polycarbonate (PC) 58 PVC cable sheathing 20 Coloring recommendations and Plastisols 20 application data 59 Coloring recommendations and Polyacetale / Polyoxymethylene (POM) 61 application data 22 Thermoplastic Polyester (PET and PBT) 62 Weather fastness of pigments in PVC 26 Coloring recommendations and Cable sheathing formulations 28 application data 63 Polyamide (Nylon 6 and 6.6) 65 2.2 Thermoplastic Elastomers and Rubber 30 Coloring recommendations and Styrene Block Copolymers (SBC) 30 application data 66 Thermoplastic Polyurethane (TPU) 30 Polyetherimide (PEI) 67 Ethylene vinyl acetate (EVA) 30 Polysulfone (PSU) 67 Thermoplastic Olefins (TPO) 31 Polyethersulfone (PES) 67 Rubber: Natural and Synthetic 31 Polyphenylene Sulphide (PPS) 67 Colorants for Rubber and Elastomers 33 Hostasin preparations 35 4 Contents Contents 2.8 Thermosetting resins 68 Thermoset Plastics 68 Unsaturated Polyester resin 68 Epoxy Resins 68 Thermosetting Polyurethane (PUR) 69 Colorants for unsaturated Polyester (UP) 70 3 Colorant Technical Information 73 3.1 Chemical and Physical data 73 PV Fast pigments 73 Graphtol pigments 74 DrizPearls 74 Hostaprint pigment preparations 75 Hostasin pigment preparations 75 Hostacryl pigment preparations 75 Polysynthren polymer soluble colorants 76 Solvaperm dyes 76 Hostasol fluorescent dyes 76 3.2 Solvent Extraction data 77 PV Fast pigments 77 Graphtol pigments 78 3.3 Solvent Solubility data 79 Solvaperm dyes 79 Polysynthren dyes 79 Hostasol dyes 79 4Test conditions 81 1 Concentration for SD /3 83 Hue angle 83 Heat resistance 83 Light fastness in HDPE, PP, PS, ABS, PC 83 Light fastness in PVC 83 Warpage 83 Migration - bleed fastness 83 Migration resistance (unvulcanised rubber) 83 Determination of limit concentration in PVC 83 Physical and chemical properties 83 Test compounds 84 5 6 1 Introduction to the Coloration of Plastics and Product Overviews 1.1 Introduction 1.2 Coloration selection criteria 1.3 The Clariant colorant ranges 1.4 Overview of the product ranges and main fields of application . Introduction to the Coloration of Plastics and PV Fast pigments Graphtol pigments DrizPearls pigments Solvaperm dyes Polysynthren polymer soluble colorants Hostasol fluorescent dyes Hostaprint pigment preparations Hostasin pigment preparations Hostacryl pigment preparations 1.5 Optical Brightening Agents (OBA) Introduction to OBA’s Overview of the Hostalux and Leucopure range and areas of application Hostalux and Leucopure fastness properties 7 1 Introduction to the Coloration of Plastics and Product Dispersion aids (wetting agents) such as; waxes, stearates, Overview plasticisers, surfactants or liquid adhesives are incorpora- ted to improve the dispersion process. 1.1 Introduction Colorants are classified as either pigments or dyes. Plastics are essential materials used in all aspects of daily Pigments can be inorganic or organic, colored, white or life, their unique forming capabilities, thermal, tensile and black. Pigments are practically insoluble in the medium in electrical properties together with their resistance to che- which they are incorporated. micals and other harsh environments combine to make them Most inorganic pigments demonstrate good resistance to the most flexible of engineering materials. the influence of weathering, have hiding power and a high resistance to heat. Many however, lack color strength, are Plastics are synthetic, polymeric materials which can be dull and a limited choice of shades (colors) is available. formed under heat and pressure, upon cooling they regain Certain groups of traditionally used inorganic pigments; their polymeric structure. Plastics are produced from poly- cadmium, lead chromate and molybdate chemistries are mers; chemical compounds composed of long chain mole- legislated against in many countries and applications. cules in small repeating units (monomers). Plastics are rarely processed alone; they can be modified with inorganic Organic pigments offer a comprehensive range of shades, compounds to impart various physical characteristics, they color strengths and levels of brightness. A wide variety of are often stabilised with additives and processing aids to chemistries provide for differing heat stability’s and fastness improve or modify performance properties and they can be properties. Organic pigment selection is critical to obtaining