Which are popular polymer additives for the printing industry?

The use of plastics has proliferated around the world. The polymer products have infiltrated possibly in every sector, from construction, printing, packaging, automotive, and consumer durable. The growth has taken place due to the versatility of raw polymers to give shapes, sizes, strength, and other properties to end products. As a result, plastics are used in manufacturing bags, synthetic fibre, and other accessories of industries. The growth of plastic is expected to grow even more in the coming years. However, consumers are demanding eco-friendly products with recyclability and other features due to the growing concern of plastic pollution.

How does a polymer turn into plastic?

Every customer gets attracted to plastic with beautiful printing design and colour. The colour in the plastic comes due to the use of colour masterbatch during polymer processing. The solid or liquid materials impart colour and other functional properties like processability, brightness, hardness, resistant to heat, flame retardant, and even slippage during the polymer processing.

Many types of masterbatches are available in the industry to impart desired properties and effects on finished products. But, masterbatches must be compatible with the base polymers to give colour and change properties during manufacturing. Here are the types of masterbatches used in plastic processing:

l Color masterbatch - to add intended colour to a plastic-based on the requirement of customers.

l Additives - the additive adds function, properties and features to plastic-like strength, durability, and others.

l Special effect masterbatch - the additive imparts chromatic effect on the finished products such as fluorescence and others.

Plastic processors choose the additive based on the requirement of customers.

Reliable additives for packaging and printing industry

The appealing colour and design of plastic packaging come due to applications of unique additives in the manufacturing process. Typically, the printing of packaging is not free from challenges and problems in processing. Machines get heat up due to the higher coefficient of friction during the process. As a result, plastics processors often face a decrease in production and quality of products leading to their loss.

However, this problem has dramatically reduced with the introduction of a slipping agent during the printing of packaging solutions. One of such additives is BOPET masterbatch, and it has extensive use in the printing and packaging solutions. The anti-lock agent enhances the performance reducing the coefficient of friction between the layers. The notable benefit of using this additive is improved plastic quality, smooth surface, electrical insulation, chemical, and dimensional stability and tensile strength of products. Similarly, the additive has other industrial applications enhancing the quality of products.

Silicone is another vital additive used in the packaging and printing solution in plastic processing. The modern silicone masterbatch provides improved performance in comparison to traditional wax and oil. Besides, the slippage agent lowers the coefficient of friction resulting in better products with smooth surface finish and quality. That results in the production of superior products for plastic processing.

Conclusion

Polymer additives are essential to promote plastic processing as per the requirement of customers. They are useful to impart colour and features to the finished products during the manufacturing processing.

The author has a keen interest in gathering information about plastic manufacturing processes. In this article, he has written about the significance of white and black masterbatch in the industry.