In addition, the granules make an important contribution to occupational safety and environmental protection. Containers can be completely emptied, for example. Dust development in the processing of Macrolex Gran is much less than with powders. This means there is a considerably reduced risk of dust explosion, and expenses for protective measures and facility cleaning can be considerably reduced.
The design of Macrolex Gran is such that on the one hand its hollow spheres are big enough to hardly form dust and on the other the much smaller particle size compared to powder enables rapid and complete solution dissolving in the plastic.
“We achieve a high microgranule quality with Macrolex Gran through a special production process that applies an enormous spray dryer that stretches across three stories,” says Ralf Scholtz, head of the Colorant Additives business line in LANXESS’s ADD business unit. “The expenditure involved is well worth it because it enables us to supply our customers with a high-tech product for brilliantly coloring plastics that offers both top quality and high cost-efficiency,” adds Scholtz.
Owing to its good metering and dispersion properties Macrolex Gran is primarily used for processing in the extruder and on the injection molding machine. The colorants are soluble in organic solvents and are highly suitable for coloring amorphous and semicrystalline plastics such as PS, PET, PC, ABS and PMMA. In the final article Macrolex Gran impresses through its high color intensity and brilliance and good thermal stability, weather resistance and lightfastness. Important fields of application for Macrolex Gran include the coloration of food packaging such as PET bottles and the coloration of children’s toys, since the colorants also meet the stringent purity requirements of these applications. “Macrolex Gran stands for an innovative color technology from LANXESS that combines brilliance in the coloring of plastics with high ecological standards,” adds Scholtz.
Photos: LANXESS
