FAQ: How do we develop a color masterbatch?

Italmaster is also the right place for appropriate advice and support.

That's why we posted an informative video explaining how we develop a new masterbatch.

Watch the video here!

How do we develop a color masterbatch?

This is a question we often get at Italmaster. Everything starts, of course, with the customer who wishes to develop a new color masterbatch with us. 

This can be done in several ways:

• Either the customer gives us a Pantone or RAL reference of a certain color.
• Or the customer supplies us with a sample of his current masterbatch.
• In another case, we need to develop the desired color on the basis of a piece of the plastic product itself.

We then ask the customer to fill in a checklist in which we check for additional information that should give us a correct picture of the usage requirements and functionalities that the masterbatch must meet such as:

• The type of polymer to be colored.
• The processing temperature for injection moulding or extrusion
• Is it an indoor or outdoor application?
• What is the desired dosage of the masterbatch?
• And much more...

The checklist is the input for our internal "lab request". With this information the color engineers can get started with the color matching job.

The color engineer undertakes a number of attempts in the lab to create the suitable masterbatch formulation with a whole range of available monopigments. These pigments are carefully selected in the lab and weighed very precisely. Then a small amount of masterbatch is created on "lab-scale".

The obtained masterbatch is eventually mixed with the specific raw material that needs to be colored and that the customer will use for his final application.

• For injection moulding purposes a colorplate is injected.
• For fibre extrusion a fibre sample is spun with this mixture as a test sample.

So we are basically going to imitate the customer's process with the masterbatch we have developed, with the right dosage and the raw material of the customer.

If there is a good colormatch, the customer receives the colorplate or fibre sample for approval. After all, the colorplate or fibre sample helps the customer to properly assess the color-tone obtained in his own used polymer. The customer can then choose to have a masterbatch sample produced in order to test the developed masterbatch in his own production process.

In a final step we deliver a quotation to the customer and are happy to guarantee our best conditions for cooperation.

Let’s start developing together! Click on this link to send us your lab request.

Italmaster Belgium NV is your flexible partner for the development, production and sales of masterbatches, monopigments & additives. Contact us for the development, production and flexible delivery of your masterbatch in Belgium, the Netherlands, France and other countries of the European Union.