SpectraFlair Bright Silver and Bright Silver HSA pigments are suitable for use with many

technologies used to manufacture and decorate plastic molded parts including:

• injectionmolding

• extrusionblowmolding

• filmextrusion

• in-molddecorating

• thermoforming

• calendering

• reactivein-moldcoating.

Polymer Systems

Pigment effects are most successful when used with clear resin polymer systems such as:

• polycarbonate(PC)

• polypropylene(PP)

• high-densitypolyethylene(HDPE)

• thermalpolyurethane(TPU)

• polyethyleneterephthalate(PET)

• acrylonitrilebutadienestyrene(ABS)

• styreneacrylonitrile(SAN)

• celluloseacetate(CA)

• naturalrubber

• nylon12.

Colorsaturationandcolortravelaregreatestwhenusingaclearresinincombinationwithasmooth,

high-glosspartfinish.HDPEandothertranslucentresinsarealsousable;however,theresulting

partwillexhibitamoreunderstatedcoloreffect.Matte-finishpartdesignsreducemetalliclusterand

typicallyrequiregreaterpigmentloading.

SpectraFlair® Bright Silver Pigment Plastic Application Guidelines

Application Note

telep h one: 707 525-7007 websi t e: www.jdsu.com/ccsfax: 707 525-7537

Productspecificationsanddescriptionsinthisdocumentsubjecttochangewithoutnotice.©2011JDSUniphaseCorporation301681650010511SFBSPLASTICAPPGUIDE.AN.CCS.AE May2011

Application Note: SpectraFlair® Bright Silver Pigment Plastic Application Guidelines

Application Methods

Masterbatchproductioniseffectivewhenusingtwin-screw,co-rotatingextrudersandBanbury

mixers.Ifcurrentlymoldingwithmicaor��aluminumflakepigments,considerthoseprocess

conditionsasreasonablestartingparametersforthispigment.

Aswithallflakepigments,flowlinesmustbeconsidered.Fornewtooldesigns,adjustgatelocation

inordertominimizeandconcealflowlines.Someprocessessuchasfilm-insertmoldingandin-mold

decoratingcancompletelyeliminatethepresenceofflowlinesanddeliverahigh-qualityappearance

forafractionofthecostofpainting.

Theamountofpigmentrequiredtogenerateastrongcoloreffectdependsonmanyfactorsincluding:

• surfacegeometry

• useofresin

• wallthickness

• surfacegloss

• presenceandlevelofotherpigments.

Beginaddingpigmentatarateof0.2–0.5percentpigmentbyweight.Loadinglevelscanbeadjusted

toachieveadesiredlookandtoreducecost.Theamountofpigmentcanbefurtherreducedby

usingmulti-layerblowmoldingandsheetextrusiontechniques.JDSUrecommendsusingalight

loadingintheouterlayerbackedbyanopaqueinnerlayer.Theinnerlayercanbeblackorcoloredto

complementthepigment.