Recyclates are gaining increasing importance in the plastics industry, but they present technical challenges for processors: depending on their origin, sorting and preparation, quality, inherent colour and processing properties can vary significantly. Grafe is therefore now expanding its portfolio with Cycolen, a new product brand for masterbatches specifically used for colouring recycled polymers.
The focus is on custom solutions where the masterbatch is adapted to the customer's specified recycled polymer. Lars Schulze, Head of R&D Product Development at Grafe, explains that Cycolen offers a solution for processors who not only want to use recyclates but also integrate them colour-wise and functionally into their applications. „The decisive factor here is that we don't start with a theoretical standard material, but rather use the customer's specific recycled polymer as the basis for development.“
Challenges of colour setting
The new product brand is aimed at plastics processors who use post-industrial or post-consumer recyclates in their material cycles and wish to combine them with colour, additive or functional solutions. Suitable plastics include PET, HDPE, PP, LDPE or PMMA, among others. Depending on the application, Grafe develops its masterbatches in customer-specific shades, pellet forms and batch sizes. For project-specific customer requirements, the company also examines further material solutions as compounds.
A particular challenge lies in colour adjustment. Recycled polymers often have their own base colouring, which must be taken into account during formulation development. Grafe analyses the customer-specific raw material and adjusts the colourant dosage accordingly. This way, natural material variations can be compensated for and defined colour targets achieved more precisely.
„Recycled material is not all the same. Each material source brings its own properties. Our task is to understand these properties and to develop a stable, processable, and visually convincing masterbatch from them.“
Dr Michael Dirauf, Head of Analytics
Functional additives and design possibilities
In addition to colouration, Cycolene masterbatches can also be equipped with functional additives. These include, for example, stabilisers, processing aids, slip and antiblocking agents, impact modifiers, and UV or thermal stabilisers. The aim is to specifically improve the processing and performance of recyclates and to facilitate the use of recycled plastics in high-quality applications.
From a design perspective, Cycolen also opens up new possibilities. In addition to classic colour shades, optical effects, particles, textures or laser markings can be realised. Particularly with regard to recyclable product concepts, direct marking of the plastic can be an interesting alternative to additional labels. This property of laser markability is retained even with further mechanical recycling cycles within a closed system.
Source: Grafe
