Coatings World - June 2016

Catherine Diamond, Associate Editor

The global metallic pigments market is expected to reach $1.20 billion by 2022, according to a report by Grand View Research (GVR) in March. This growth is largely attributed to changing consumer preferences towards “ fashionable products with enhanced colors and brilliant visual effects.” Technological advancements have introduced high-luster and sparkling effects with increased durability for automotive OEM processing and paint refinishes, researchers found.

“These odorless pigments are also widely utilized in other
expanding end-use industries such as packaging, cosmetics and
printing inks, particularly in emerging economies of China and
India,” the report stated. “Increasing consumer awareness re-
garding sustainability and environmental friendly nature of
these pigments has also benefited the overall market.”
Aluminum pigments emerged as the leading product segment
and accounted for over one third of the total market volume in
2014. Copper pigments are expected to be the fastest growing
product segment growing at a CAGR of 5. 7 percent from 2015
to 2022. These pigments are rapidly gaining popularity due to
their ability to impart a unique gold-bronze effect to various
substrates, researchers found.

Suppliers report growth in the early part of 2016, and believe there is reason to be optimistic moving into 2017. Aaron Hollman, global director of effect pigments, Sun Chemical, said that metallic effects continues to be a growth area for Sun Chemical.

“In the past several years, we have seen tremendous growth
of our Benda-Lutz brand of metallic pigments and prepara-
tions,” Hollman said. “Our goal is to continue to expand the
use of both decorative and functional metallic effects into new
applications and unknown markets through innovation. We are
very excited about our pipeline of new products. By delivering
true added value for our customers, we can continue this up-
ward growth trend in 2016 and beyond.”
Frank Nataro, VP, sales & marketing, Americas & Europe,
Silberline Manufacturing Co., Inc., said that while aluminum
pigments have seen a slight decline, colored metallics are gaining
in popularity.

“Aluminum pigments have slightly declined due in large part to the decline of straight silver in the global color popularity for automobiles,” he said. “Colored metallics are becoming more popular as high chroma colors such as metallic reds, blues and greens are gaining favor, specifically in the automotive coatings market. The declines we have seen in the automotive market due to color popularity have been somewhat offset by demand for new silver aesthetics and technology approvals and an increase in industrial and vacuum metalized flake markets.”

‘Green’ trends

As consumers and manufacturers become more focused on the environment, suppliers are challenged with meeting sophisticated technical demands while utilizing ‘green’ methods. Thomas Hughes, head of key account management and automotive coatings, ECKART America Corporation, said that both environmental regulations and cost are the major factors impacting this industry.

“Our development efforts are aligned with the market and
our customer needs in order to provide increased value with
our technical solution offerings,” Hughes said. “The demand
for environmentally-friendly coatings continues and we support
this with our technical leadership position with stabilized and
encapsulated pigments for water based coatings systems and
pigments for powder coatings.”
Silberline’s Nataro said that stricter environmental regula-
tions have forced metallic pigment suppliers to modify their
processes and materials in order to provide pigments that can
pass all regulatory testing and offer low to zero VOC.
“There is also a push for further reduction of aromatic
content in the carrier solvent in some metallic pigments,
along with more and more pressure to test and ensure that
PAH levels are within regulations for the different markets,”
he said. “Silberline is continuing to see more efficient coating
applications, imparting thinner film builds and less overall
paint being required to paint a vehicle, while retaining excel-
lent color and performance. Finer and brighter continues to
be the message.”