Pigments prepared for the extruder — carrier-compatible, high-loading grades released on dispersion rating and filter pressure value, not colour alone.
Carry the colour, and disappear into the polymer without a trace.
Loading determines how little concentrate the converter has to buy and dose; dispersion determines whether that colour actually develops in the part. The two pull against each other, because every increment of loading makes complete wetting harder. A masterbatch grade is a pigment selected and surface-prepared so that the extruder can still reach full colour development at a loading that makes the concentrate worth making.
40–70
% pigment loading
Typical concentrate loadings across the colour and black range.
Dispersion is built in at compounding and only revealed at the screen.
The pigment surface is matched to the carrier resin and to the polymer it will be let down into, since incompatibility at this stage cannot be milled out later.
Pigment, carrier and additives are compounded at the shear and temperature that fully wet the pigment without exceeding its heat stability.
The melt is filtered and pelletised, and the filter pressure value recorded. This is the point where undispersed material is caught rather than shipped.
The concentrate is run at the intended let-down ratio in the intended polymer, and colour, dispersion and screen behaviour are confirmed on that part.
Loading and carrier are chosen against the let-down and the conversion process.
Carbon black · 40–50% loading
Beaded furnace blacks selected for clean extruder handling and full colour development at high loading, with ultraviolet performance where the duty demands it.
Organic and inorganic · to shade
Heat-stable pigments prepared for concentrate manufacture, matched to standard and released with dispersion and filter pressure data alongside colour.
Rutile · 60–70% loading
High-loading titanium dioxide concentrates for opacity in thin films and mouldings, treated for low binder demand and clean screen behaviour.
No single number is sufficient on its own.
How much colour the concentrate carries, and therefore what the converter has to dose. Higher loading demands more from the dispersion step.
Pressure rise across a fine screen per gram of pigment. The most reliable single indicator of dispersion quality in a concentrate.
Assessed on a pressed film against reference images. It catches what colour measurement alone will not: agglomerates and specks.
Must be compatible with the let-down polymer. A mismatched carrier shows as poor dispersion, delamination or lost mechanical properties.
The concentrate is heated twice, in compounding and again in conversion, so stability is specified against the total thermal history.
Critical for hygroscopic carriers and for any concentrate going into a polyester or polyamide line, where moisture degrades the polymer itself.
Because the demands differ. A masterbatch pigment has to be surface-compatible with a polymer carrier, survive two thermal cycles, and disperse under extruder shear rather than in a bead mill. The same colour index can perform very differently under those conditions.
It quantifies how much pressure a concentrate builds across a fine screen per gram of pigment, which is the most direct available measure of undispersed material. It matters most in fibre and thin film, where a rising screen pressure stops the line.
By the loading of the concentrate and the colour depth required in the part, then confirmed by running it. Ratios between one in twenty and one in fifty are typical; very high ratios demand excellent dispersion because there is less shear available to correct it.
It has to be compatible, which is not always the same as identical. A polyethylene carrier is widely used in polypropylene, for example, but a mismatch in a demanding application shows up as poor dispersion, delamination or lost impact strength.
Yes. Ultraviolet stabilisers, antioxidants, slip and antiblock additives are routinely combined with pigment in a single concentrate, which reduces the number of feeders and the number of dosing errors on the line.
Send the carrier, the let-down polymer and the conversion process, and we will come back with the grade, the loading and the dispersion data to qualify it.
