and special effect pigments. Customers expect these products to
deliver outstanding performance characteristics. These pigments
are used in a wide range of high-end market applications from
automobiles, house exteriors to electronics.
Campbell cited lightfastness, solvent stability, heat stability
and fewer impurities as desired characteristics of high performance and special effect pigments. “The most interesting thing is
the cost of many of these high performance pigments have
dropped over the past five years and the premium versus lower
quality traditional pigments has been reduced,” he said.
“End users expect their products to look distinctive and valuable,” said Frank Maile, director business unit coatings and plastics, Schlenk. “During the last several years, the trends towards
liquid metal or chrome-mirror effects have amplified. Simulat-
DuPont Launches WB-X4789 Mercedes 047
Alubeam Silver
DuPont Refinish has extended its range of Cromax special factory
packed colors by introducing the Mercedes 047 Alubeam Silver—
WB-X4789—to answer the growing demand for aftermarket solutions to liquid silver "alu-shine" effects.
The new waterborne basecoat color, available in 0.5-liter tins,
has been developed with the inclusion of a Hydroshine pigment to
specifically match the Mercedes color
Alubeam Silver.
"Over the last two years we've
expanded the number of factory
packed colors DuPont Refinish offers
its bodyshops,” said Ann De Clerck,
color marketing manager, DuPont Refinish EMEA. “Thanks to the
liquid silver trend, the silver mirror-effect is becoming very popular.
With our close links to our OEM division, we are able to rise to
these trends quickly and allow our refinishers to meet aftermarket
demands. We anticipate this trend will continue to grow so it is important the color is widely available for future use."
Due to its aluminum flakes, the new Mercedes color requires a
special application technique. DuPont Refinish has compiled a dedicated technical data sheet for the two colors that use this technique - Mercedes 047 Alubeam Silver and Nissan KAB Silver.
ing the appearance of ‘pure metal’ by coatings containing metal-
lic pigments will continue. It explains the use of expensive VMP
(vacuum metallized pigments) in coating applications.”
According to Giannobile, the benefits of using high perform-
ance pigments include enhanced durability, opacity and higher
hiding and for special effect pigments, exceptional brilliance and
ultra-high chroma are highly valued, which enables the creation
of novel designs and differentiation.
“Traditional markets such as the automotive and industrial sectors will continue to be primary consumers of high performance
and special effect pigments,” Giannobile continued. “However, we
continue to see interior and exterior decorative applications as a
high growth area for high performance as increased interest for
materials with improved durability, opacity and weatherfastness
properties are being sought by our customers in these markets. Further, we anticipate growth in demand for heat management pigments as rising energy costs and global warming concerns increase
the need for solar management solutions within architectural and
construction applications.
According to Lavieri, high performance pigments allow coat-
ings companies to make more durable coatings that withstand
the forces of nature longer and require repainting less often.
“This saves the end user money over the life of the painted arti-
cle with reduced maintenance cost and part failures,” he said.
“High performance pigments also are the only option available
to color certain high demanding types of applications where clas-
sical pigments will fail. An example of this is in powder coating
applications where high performance pigments with good heat
stability are required.”
According to Poemer, architectural coatings formulators are
looking at high performance pigments to increase their color
space and add durability to their systems. “The large size of this
market segment could obviously add significant demand in fu-
ture years,” he said. “Automotive has still not fully recovered to
2006-07 peaks so it also has significant growth potential.”
“The high performance pigments must possess special quali-
ties or the formulator would simply opt not to work with them,”
said Poemer. “Many of Heubach’s pigments contain properties
necessary for high performance coatings including excellent light
fastness, chemical resistance, thermal stability and either excel-
lent transparency or opacity depending on the application. We
differentiate our pigments with increased strength, ease of dis-
persion and viscosity stability. High Chroma, light fastness and
weathering are the key drawing points of the higher end prod-
ucts. Pricing differentials are smaller than seen in the 1990s and
early 2000s which increases their attractiveness.”
“Like most companies we are studying the effects of nano
particles on performance but there is still much more in depth
study required,” Poemer added. “Furthermore, we are looking
for zinc-free anticorrosive pigments that can provide optimized
performance. We continue to look for products that will allow
us to offer an expanded color space to our customers. These
products would include products such as an inorganic orange
as well as a further expansion of our high performance organic
pigment portfolio.” CW
30 | Coatings World
www.coatingsworld.com
August 2012
