Metallic Pigments
June 2014 www.coatingsworld.com Coatings World | 35
Raw Material Costs and the Market
The cost of raw materials and energy costs are impacting the
market, and companies are adjusting to those costs accordingly.
“Here, we have to see the full picture - that means raw material costs but also energy costs as well as personnel costs,” Krog
explained. “The reflection on pure raw materials is only one side
of the medal. We successfully compensate increasing total costs
by efficiency gains in order to avoid price increases for the majority of our product portfolio.”
Emerging Areas of Applications
ECKART has seen the total field of automotive with automotive parts, refinish, and general industrial, exterior/interior
as areas with the strongest demand. The attention also is on
broadening functionalities, paint system compatibility and
weather stability.
Industrial and automotive coating applications show the
strongest demand for metallic pigments.
“The North American automotive market is benefiting
from strong vehicle sales, an increase in exports and continued
popularity of silver and gray metallics colors,” Hollman said.
“Emerging areas are architectural paint, building materials,
electronic materials and securities.”
New Products
During the last year ECKART launched many new products.
They broadened the portfolio in each of their product groups.
ECKART´s chromium oxide based METALURE Liquid
Black is the product for midnight black shades in combination
with fascinating reflective effect. The pigment is the world´s most
unique PVD-product and impresses by its particular dark metallic appearance. Furthermore, METALURE Liquid Black not
only convinces by its optics. The extremely high chemical resistance withstands any possible stresses. Moreover, METALURE
Liquid Black is chemically inert and free of any chrome VI compounds, thus, it is toxically safe.
With STAPA UCP ECKART launched a new aluminum pigment
for highest stability and brilliance in solvent- and water-based
coatings. Additionally to its Ultra Chemical Performance the
product optically shows a pronounced dark flop. It´s even, un-textured surface and its extreme fineness guarantee a fascinating
brilliance and light reflection.
STAPA UCP 150 passes all chemical tests – even the most
challenging ones in the market like the chemical stability tests
for coated interior plastic parts in the automotive sector.
STAPA HFG offers new environmentally-friendly solutions for toys, packaging, can coating or the coating of cookware as it is the first aluminum pigment worldwide which is
suitable for water-based coatings with direct food contact.
(Hydro Food Grade)
The aluminum pigments are specially coated and stabilized and
additionally have a good chemical resistance. STAPA HFG is PAH-free and compliant with FDA and various European standards regarding food contact. It provides expressive optics - from a soft,
greyish shade to an impressive sparkle or a brilliant silver effect.
Sun Chemical has recently released Benda-Lutz METALLIC
6822/70. A recent addition to the Benda-Lutz METALLIC
Series, it is a medium coarse, non-leafing aluminum paste that
provides a delicate balance of sparkle, brilliance and opacity
for a wide variety of coatings applications. They also released
Benda-Lutz METALLIC HP 6814/78, a new addition to the
Benda-Lutz METALLIC Series. This sparkling, non-leafing alu-
minum provides exceptional acid resistance for industrial coat-
ings with demanding chemical resistance requirements.
“We are very excited about some recent developments associ-
ated with our Benda-Lutz MAXAL EC product line,” Hollman
explained. “In addition to premium metallic brilliance and spar-
kle, this range has become synonymous with the highest level of
chemical resistance for single coat, architectural powder coat-
ings. In the near future, this line will expand to finer particle
sizes allowing smoother finishes combined with the industry
leading durability of MAXAL EC.” CW
