Colors

Our name says it all. Colortech’s strength is color, and we’re committed to providing you with the best color concentrate technology in the marketplace today. From subtle off-whites and earth tones to vibrant reds, brilliant blues and vivid yellows, Colortech offers a broad spectrum of cost-effective color concentrates to meet all your processing needs.

In addition to our standard general purpose colorants, selected products satisfy the most demanding high-performance applications, including critical blown and cast film, blow molding and injection molding, extrusion coating and fibers.

Can’t find the exact color and performance characteristics you’re looking for? Colortech also offers an extensive color matching and formulation service, allowing us to quickly and easily produce custom colors and additive packages to suit your specific application needs. Give us a call and let us show you how Colortech's distinguished color laboratory brings color to life.

Colortech concentrates are available in a broad range of carrier resins engineered to be compatible with most polymer systems.

Important Information Required to Match Colors

Lightfastness
Lightfastness is a term used to describe the fade resistance of colorant formulations. It is an inherent characteristic of the pigment system used and is not significantly affected by the presence of UV light stabilizers which may be incorporated in the formulation to protect the polymer substrate. When discussing lightfastness values, remember they are estimates based on the standard Blue Wool Scale (1-8) rating system where 8 represents the highest fade resistance. Since concentrate lightfastness levels can be affected by letdown and UV exposure conditions, these values should be used strictly as a guideline for product selection.

High lightfastness values are important in many durable goods applications where outdoor life expectancies are often measured in years. Many high durability products such as safety fencing, fiber optic cable conduit and industrial containers can benefit from the excellent lightfastness and brilliant color strength of heavy metal-based colorants. Lightfastness is generally not a concern in disposable consumer packaging where organic heavy metal-free or FDA pigment systems are the concentrates of choice.

Thermal Stability
As some standard colorant formulations are not suitable for extended high temperature use, any recommended processing temperatures are intended as a guideline only.  Residence times, letdown ratios, and process shear rates can differ significantly from application to application.  As a result, thermal stability results may vary.  The best way to determine if a product imparts the proper heat stability is to run the product and test its performance.  Colortech is pleased to provide sample materials run on our laboratory twin screw extruders to run in your process.

Opacity
In many applications, opacity or hiding power is a critical factor in concentrate selection. However, different pigments necessary to meet other customer specifications for light stability or regulatory concerns may vary somewhat in opacity.  Our color laboratory team can provide consistent formulas that meet required opacities while also maintaining all other customer requirements for the concentrate.

Regulatory Status
Colortech concentrates designated as HMF are considered to be heavy metal-free under CONEG model toxics legislation (lead, mercury, cadmium and hexavalent chromium totals less than 100 parts per million) at all usage levels. Formulations listed as FDA comply with United States Food and Drug Administration guidelines for use in food packaging applications. Heavy metal- based colorants are designated as HM and are primarily recommended for use in durable goods applications. If your requirements vary from the general definitions above, let our world-class Regulatory team ensure that your colors meet any requirements needed for your success.