Plastics Additives

Additives are materials that are added to the primary resin during either compounding or processing to improve the polymer’s processability, performance or appearance. Additives include colorants; heat stabilizers; process aids; fillers; compatibilizers; blowing agents; lubricants; slip agents.

Additives

Insight Carbon Nanotube Masterbatches for Strength and Stiffness

Insight Polymers & Compounding introduces new CNT masterbatches in polypropylene, Nylon 66 and other polymers; offers customization.

ESSENTIAL READING

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Injection Molding 22 Oct 2022

Understanding the ‘Science’ of Color

And as with all sciences, there are fundamentals that must be considered to do color right. Here’s a helpful start.

Injection Know How 1 Feb 2019

What’s With All the Static?

Static buildup on polymers can cause a variety of problems, some rather unpleasant. Yet there’s an inexpensive way to eliminate it, and we have data as proof.

Additives 30 Nov 2018

Part 11: A Processor's Most Important Job

It’s the processors job to ensure molded parts contain enough stabilizer to perform to the expectations of the end use.

Elastomers 25 Sep 2017

How to Prevent Stress Whitening in PP Copolymers

A look at causes, detection, and prevention.

best practices 25 Feb 2017

Extruding with Fillers

You can use the reference point from processing unfilled polymer to determine whether you can run filled resin on your current system.

Additives 31 Mar 2015

Materials: Analyzing Filler Content

The process is considered simple. But things aren’t always as they seem.

Latest Additives News And Updates

sustainability 20 Jan 2025

UL Solutions Launches Non PFAS Certification

Program will help plastics suppliers demonstrate that their materials do not contain polyflouroalkyl substances, in compliance with sustainability requirements.

Additives 17 Jan 2025

Chroma Color Expands Footprint With Acquisition of Spectra Color

Specialty color and additives supplier acquires manufacturer of colorants and precolored resin compounds.

PET 4 Dec 2024

Light-Blocking Additive for PET Dairy Packaging

Avient’s Lactra LX additive enables blocking of 100% visible light in monolayer PET.

Electronics 2 Dec 2024

OCSiAl Opens First Large-Scale Graphene Nanotube Plant

The new facility in Serbia will serve Europe, North America and Asia to drive advances in plastics and rubbers.

Additives 25 Oct 2024

SGS Expands Testing Capability of PFAS in North America

The testing is expected to enhance throughput and ensure better targeted remediation analysis.

Extrusion 17 Oct 2024

Insight Polymers & Compounding Unveils New Conductive Products Line

The new conductive products line will also be produced for injection molding and extrusion.

Featured Posts

NPE 15 Jul 2024

Additives Boast Sustainability Without Sacrificing Performance

Sustainability continues to dominate new additives technology, but upping performance is also evident. Most of the new additives have been targeted to commodity resins and particularly polyolefins.

Additives 1 May 2024

Struktol Showcasing a Range of Specialty Additives

NPE2024: Focus is on additives for plastics including PVC and WPC industries.

NPE 17 Apr 2024

BASF Highlighting How They 'Make, Use and Recycle Future Solutions'

NPE2024: BASF is using its proprietary computer-aided engineering tool Ultrasim when designing for sustainability in a broad range of industries.

Additives 10 Apr 2024

Riverdale Global Showing Latest Innovations and New Satellite Location in Wisconsin

NPE2024: Live demos of updated RGS controller are among the highlights at its Wisconsin facility that will house the ‘new’ color R&D lab.

NPE 19 Jan 2024

At NPE2024, Follow These Megatrends in Materials and Additives

Offerings range from recycled, biobased, biodegradable and monomaterial structures that enhance recyclability to additives that are more efficient, sustainable and safer to use.

Additives 27 Mar 2023

Gerdau Graphene Launches “First” Graphene-Enhanced PE Additive Masterbatch for Extruded Packaging and More

The company has also partnered with conglomerate Sumitomo Corp. for distribution of its graphene-enhanced masterbatches in Japan.

FAQ: Additives

What to consider when adding color?

There are several key items that are essential in developing a colorant package for any polymer. The first of these is the avoidance of any chemical incompatibility between the chemistry of the polymer and the chemistry of the colorant system. Chemical reactions proceed more rapidly at higher temperatures, and melt processing involves significantly elevated temperatures and large inputs of mechanical energy. Therefore, any chemical interactions that may occur between a polymer and a colorant system will happen very rapidly during the injection molding process.

How much stabilizer should processors use?

The material supplier will incorporate a certain amount of the stabilization package in the material, making this the starting point for that material. It is now the processor’s job to handle the material during processing so that the molded part contains enough stabilizer to perform to the expectations of the end user. The molding process will always consume some amount of the antioxidant in the material. This is expected. But the amount of stabilizer that is consumed will depend upon the process conditions, most notably the melt temperature and the time the material spends in the molten state. Lower melt temperatures and shorter residence times will produce parts that retain a higher level of stabilization, and these parts will be more capable of handling the application environment. If melt temperatures become elevated or residence times become extended, the molded part will be less capable of managing the application demands.

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