Perfect colors and tailor-made coloration with Novopearls micro granulate

Since its launch at the Fakuma fair in 2011, the gap between liquid colors and conventional batch granulates has been filled by Novopearls micro-granulate. What’s more, significant increases in coloration performance can be achieved when combined with liquid colors. For the first time it has been possible to use the positive characteristics of liquid colors with higher levels of coloration (liquid colors max. 3% filling volume) while simultaneously reducing the amount of batch material added. Additionally, the liquid carrier can have a positive effect on surface quality. The spherical micro-granulate with an average diameter of 450µm is made up of a wax composition which can be extremely well homogenized with numerous plastics.

Practical Advantages for Colorful Products
Novopearls are highly pigmented, can be mixed together and have excellent flowability. A big bonus is the melting point of the micro-granulate of just 85°C. The micro-granulate melts in the molding machine faster than the plastic to be colored. This results in a rapid, streak-free homogenization of the color and the plastic, previously only achievable with liquid colors. According to Novosystems, bulk plastic materials such as PVC, PS and other technical plastics can be colored with the micro-granulate. Above all, Novopearls scores highly in terms of its cost-effectiveness, making affordable and sustainable coloration possible. As a result of optimally dispersed pigments in the wax-based granulate very small amounts of additives - between 0.1% and 0.9% are possible. Novosystems claims cost savings compared to conventional color batches can be as high as 20% to 30%.

Novopearls – Factory Proven Performance
Numerous customer applications have already generated a great deal of practical experience of mixing Novopearls with liquid colors. As a result applications such as those with very thin cross-sections for the packaging industry can result in further increases in coloration. Here the user has to dose twice: conventionally via the granulate feed and granulate dosing system; and for liquid colors via a flange with a hole above the granulate feed to the extruder or injection molding machine. The possibilities for surface optimization are one of the main benefits of Novopearls. This is of particular interest to users wishing to achieve an opaque coloration effect with very thin-walled products. “Expanding our product range to smaller batches makes Novopearls increasingly attractive for injection molding applications, both as an individual coloring solution or combined with liquid colors”, says Mr. Hoop. Injection molding use adds to the range of applications of Novopearls, which since the product launch at the Fakuma fair in 2011, have been in high-volume extrusion solutions. “Currently Novopearls are used in the furniture industry, packaging, toys and for the manufacture of technical components”, adds Mr. Hoop.

Perfect dosing without compromise

As a result of the tiny grain size of 450µm, Novopearls can be dosed extremely accurately. The user has three dosing options:

1. Adapting all screw conveyors on all granulate conveyor equipment on existing production lines.
2. Use of Novosystems dosing equipment if a combined application with liquid colors is desired.
3. Dosing micro-granulate with MCBalance from Movacolor using gravimetric dosing has worked well in practice. In this case, switching from Novopearls to conventional granulate and vice versa becomes a trouble-free option.

“This flexibility of the hardware to dose Novopearls has cost-savings and technical benefits”, says Rainer Hoop, “the result is low levels of investment and adaptations to existing plant.” Whatever solution the user chooses, the dosing equipment allows maximum control over dosage amounts, with no pulsation with high volumes or finely-tuned dosing of smaller batches. Where granulate color batch is recommended, changing to Novopearls can normally be achieved using existing dosing equipment.

Extremely Efficient and Delivers Best Coloration Results

Novosystems produces ready-to-use color batches with a minimum size of 100 kg. Alternatively customers can mix their own colors from 15 – 24 mono-batches. Using additive color mixing, customers can tailor coloration to their own requirements. A special coloration system comprising color measuring equipment and recipe software with an integrated color database makes the flexibility and creativity of Novopearls possible. These tools naturally enable reproducible coloration. Novopearls make bigger savings possible through smaller dosing amounts in comparison to conventional color granulates and through faster color changes.

The Special Benefits of a “Liquid Solid”

For the first time Novopearls micro-granulate makes it possible to benefit from the characteristics of liquid colors and avoid the well-known disadvantages of granulate materials. On the one hand it is significantly more cost-effective than using conventional granulate and on the other hand, due to specific pigmentation, allows a higher degree of coloration (chromaticity) than liquid colors. Very low dosing amounts and excellent homogenization results in cleaning effect similar to liquid colors. Abrasion is reduced making cleaning agents unnecessary. Dust formation is no issue with Novopearls. Time-savings gained through quick color changes present the user with a higher degree of flexibility.