development of new technologies, as well as many process improvements.
“There’s an after-treatment technology whereby carbon blacks oxidize, chan-
ging the pigment’s pH level. That technology significantly improves pigment
dispersion speeds, while reducing viscosity at grinding and enhancing tinting
strength and stability. However, we think itwon’t be long before the Brazilian
paint and coatings industry to adopt this kind of technology, in line with the
USandEuropeanmarkets,” saysDouglasSilvaAraújo, sales coordinator atBirla
Carbon’s SBB (Specialty Blacks Business).
Orion Engineered Carbons has also introduced a new generation of specialty
carbonblacks in themarketplace. “We’ve launchedanewgenerationof carbon
blacks: Color Black FW 255, ahigh-jetness pigment featuring compatibilitywith
both waterborne and solvent-borne systems and great coloristic properties;
Experimental BlackXPB412, a specialtycarbonblack formedium-to-high-jetness
coatings; XPB 545, for conductive and anti-static coatings; Colour Black FW 171,
a fineparticle size, high-color furnaceblack that offers superior jetness; Colour
Black FW 182, which is an after-treated gas blackwith a small primary particle
size, high structure andnarrowparticle size distribution; and the XPB 430 self-
-dispersing pigment, featuring high jetness and a very blue undertone,” says
Orion Engineered Carbons’ coatingsmarketingmanager Thomas Papasso.
High jetness ismore andmore of a requirement for a variety of coating appli-
cations, and suppliers are looking for ways to deliver superior color and per-
formance,while reducing costs. “We are continuously seekingways toprovide
customers with innovative solutions that will meet current and futuremarket
requirements. The resulting new black pigments deliver the desired color per-
formance,whileaffordingmore flexibility to formulators, reducing the required
amount of dispersants by up to 50 percent, and shortening dispersion times,
which results in lower costs. In addition, formulators of black coatings are
constantly striving for higher jetness,” says LéaSgain,marketing and technical
servicemanager for SouthAmerica at Cabot.
Manyhigh-quality carbonblacks require longgrinding times andexpensivedis-
persants that limit the formulator’s ability toadjustother propertiesof theend
coating. “Emperor 1600 and 1200, from Cabot, do away with this antagonism
betweencolor andeasydispersion. This representsamajor advance in reducing
production costs, while exceeding industry standards for color performance,”
Léa assures.
AmericanCoatingsShow -WaterborneCoatingstheMainThemefor
ACS2014
The American Coatings Show (ACS), which took place fromApril 8 to 10 in Atlanta,
Georgia (USA), exceeded its 2012 edition in attendance andhad a recordnumber of
exhibitors.Held inAtlanta for thefirst time, this year’seditionwasoneof the largest
andmost successful in the trade show’shistory,withmore than470exhibitors from
20countries.
TheAmericanCoatingsShow is the leadingpaintandcoatings industryexhibitionand
