16 MORE COST-EFFECTIVE PVC CONCENTRATES FOR WIRE AND CABLE REPLACE 31 PREVIOUS FORMULATIONS FROM TEKNOR COLOR COMPANY

Home > Teknor Color Company > What's New > What's New

New Color Concentrates, 12 of Them Heavy Metal-Free, Cover Full Range of Munsell (R) EIA-359-A and NEMA Applications

PAWTUCKET, RHODE ISLAND, U.S.A., October 10, 2003: A new series of PVC color concentrates enables wire and cable manufacturers to saves costs while meeting Munsell (R) and NEMA standards, it was announced today by Teknor Color Company.

The 16 new off-the-shelf concentrates cover the same range of colors served by 31 Teknor Color products that they are formulated to replace, according to marketing manager Stephan Pronovost, and provide better dispersion, easier processing, and superior color development. All 16 products are Munsell colors specified in Electronic Industries Alliance (EIA) standard 359-A and meet standards specified by the National Electrical Manufacturers Association (NEMA). In addition, 12 of the 16 are formulated without heavy metals. Recommended addition levels in most PVC compounds are the same as for conventional concentrates, typically 1%.

“Recognizing that the wire and cable industry is under intense pressure to reduce costs, we developed these new concentrates with the goal of maximizing economies of scale, streamlining customer inventories, and improving productivity in extrusion,” said Pronovost. “While the economic benefits will vary with the formulation, the colorant being replaced, and other factors, we expect most customers to achieve a significant increase in cost-performance.”

The new concentrates disperse more readily and uniformly than their earlier counterparts, Pronovost noted, as a result of new pigments and an improved formulation of dispersion aids incorporated in the concentrates. “Better dispersion is critical for improving productivity, particularly since pigment agglomerations and other non-uniformities in colorant
dispersion can cause spark failure during manufacture or compromise electrical performance in end-use.”

The colors available in the new product line include:

Gray / Slate*
Blue*
Green
Green NHM*
Red*
Orange
Orange NHM*
Yellow
Yellow NHM*
Brown
Brown NHM*
Purple *
Pink / Rose*
Acqua*
Black*
White*

* Formulated without heavy metals. (“NHM” designates colors that were formulated without heavy metals.)