9 Aug 2001
CPSCOLOR: any tint at the touch of a button…
A completely new, fully automated colour tinting system suitable for use by both plastics processing companies and raw material suppliers is shortly to be unveiled by CPSCOLOR, a company with more than 40 years of experience in the design, production and marketing of tinting systems. Originally started in the paints and coatings industry and now being market leader in the tinting industry, CPSCOLOR diversified into the thermoplastics and leather markets some five years ago.
The integrated colour management system gives users total freedom in their choice of colours. This could in the future allow, for example, selection of any of the 2.000 Pantone shades at the touch of a button. The system allows fast colour changeovers, eliminates the need to store a wide range of colour masterbatches and enables users to offer a flexible and complete service to customers to whom colour is a vital marketing tool.
CPSCOLOR develops, produces and sells universal solvent-free pigment pastes (colorants), which are precisely controlled on colour and colour strength. Any extruder or injection moulding machine will be equipped with between 10 and 20 canisters, which size depends on the output of the machine. The environmentally friendly single pigment dispersions are then filled into the canisters of the dispensing equipment for addition to the base material. In the future, all types of colour can be obtained, including pearlescent and irridescent shades. The CPSCOLOR software recognizes the material type and controls the colorant addition to tint the final product into exactly the selected colour shade.
The colorants take away the traditional handling problems associated with liquid colors. The positioning of the dosing unit at the front of the extruder or injection moulder ensures rapid colour changeovers (typically within one minute), avoiding material wastage and minimizing unnecessary downtime.
The CPSCOLOR tinting system package provides users with computer-controlled colouring of extruded and injection moulded plastics with narrowly controlled liquid colorants, software for colour formulation and formula management, plus software for visualisation of selected colour combinations when developing new products and components. Its position of market leader in the paint and coatings industry brings advantages in the thermoplastics industry as well. CPSCOLOR partners in tinting benefit not only from the broad international experience with all facets of the implementation of a tinting system but also gain economy of scale and advantages of world wide agreements with top pigment manufacturers.
CPSCOLOR has proven the effectiveness of its tinting system in the batch colouring of PVC plastisols, polyurethanes and thermoset polymers. Now it is applying the same innovative technology to continuous processes such as extrusion and injection moulding. Already it has registered for patent approval for the concept of the tinting system when used in continuous conversion processes. Other more specific patents relating to individual features of the system are expected to be obtained in the near future.
It is CPSCOLOR’s philosophy to develop together with its partners a complete turn-key tinting concept. This philosophy is backed up by long-term agreements with a polymer producer, a manufacturer of dosing equipment and processing companies experienced in both extrusion and injection moulding.
For CPSCOLOR, the main emphasis currently lies on the extrusion market. Later, it will tackle injection moulding where the focus will be on the processing of engineering plastics in applications where colour is important to product marketing, e.g. watches or mobile phone covers.
The basic CPSCOLOR colour offering will include Pantone, NCS and RAL. With these shades, 99% of the colour requirements of most processing companies can be met. The colour formula of other shades easily can be made with the Windows-based software, which CPSCOLOR developed, especially for this reason. In the formulation process, the colour influence of the polymer
Reader enquiries
CPS ColorNusterweg 98
PO Box 809
NL-6130 AV Sittard
Netherlands
+31 46 4570 100
info@cpscolor.com
www.cpscolor.com
Notes for editors
CPSCOLOR will present this brand new tinting concept at this year’s K exhibition in Düsseldorf, Germany from 25th October until 1st November (hall 6, stand no. E54).
