Lustran Polymers Launches Program for Clearer, Brighter SAN Colors
Cleveland, OH, September 27, 2007
The Lustran Polymers business unit of LANXESS recently launched a new color initiative with its LUSTRAN® SAN resin. The program consists of four base SAN (styrene-acrylonitrile) colors that are produced from a continuous SAN facility in Addyston (Cincinnati), Ohio. The colored SAN resin can be molded individually or blended together to produce transparent products in varying degrees and shades of color. The blending of the four primary colors of SAN (red, blue, yellow, and green) using different formulations provides the basis of the new colored SAN platform.
This program allows the Lustran Polymers NAFTA Color Excellence Center (CEC) and the customer to create many different color hues simply by blending the different colored resins together in various proportions. In addition, the lightness or intensity of the color is lessened by adding the LUSTRAN® SAN 31 natural product or the well-known LUSTRAN® SAN 31-552160 product into the blend. The resultant mixture is then molded directly into the finished product.
"The SAN colors platform offers the advantage of in-house color correction, simply by increasing or decreasing the amount of specific colors that comprise the blend," said Robert Shinn, product portfolio manager and head of the CEC. "For example, the blueness of a finished part can be increased simply by increasing the percentage of blue LUSTRAN® SAN in the blend."
One important advantage of the program is the solubility of the colorants that are used to color the SAN resin. These colorants are highly soluble in SAN, allowing the molding process to intermix the blend of colored SAN into an end use product that meets expectations. At no point in the process does the SAN resin undergo compounding, a process that degrades and yellows SAN resin. The end result is a clearer and brighter product.
"The SAN colors platform is an improved approach not only because of improved in-house color flexibility, but also because smaller volumes can be easily mixed," added Shinn. "This gives Lustran Polymers the capability to supply colored SAN in smaller quantities."
Ultimately, the SAN Colors platform provides advantages in color appearance, color flexibility, and color consistency, while providing a product that meets the requirements of both molders and end-users.
The combinations of colorants and LUSTRAN® SAN are currently under evaluation for Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approval for repeated use in food contact applications such as house wares. Approval is expected in the near term.
About Lustran Polymers:
Lustran Polymers products are familiar in a wide variety of applications that touch our lives everyday. For example, our Lustran® ABS and SAN products are well recognized and effective in a range of applications such as appliances, house wares, medical devices, telecommunications, truck & bus, and automotives. Triax® (ABS-PA) alloys use proprietary technology to provide an attractive balance of mechanical and thermal properties for innovative applications in electronics, outdoor equipment, power tools, sports and automotive body components. Our Centrex® (ASA, AES and ASA-PC) blends have been proven for more than 20 years in the spa, lawn & garden, and recreational vehicle markets. Centrex® provides a protective cap for PVC construction materials, and Centrex® resins have also incorporated new developments specifically for the construction and marine industry.
The Lustran Polymers business unit is part of the LANXESS Engineering Plastics segment, which achieved sales of EUR 1.737 billion in the 2005 business year.
For more information about our entire line of Lustran Polymer visit www.Lustran-Polymers.com.
About LANXESS
LANXESS Corporation was formed when the Bayer Group combined most of its chemical businesses and large segments of its polymer activities. The Company began operating as a legal entity in the United States on July 1, 2004. LANXESS Corporation is a member of the German LANXESS-Group that was spun-off from Bayer in January 2005.
LANXESS manufactures high-quality products in the areas of chemicals, synthetic rubber and plastics. The Company's portfolio comprises basic and fine chemicals, color pigments, plastics, synthetic rubber and rubber chemicals, leather, material protection products and water treatment products.
In 2006, LANXESS Corporation employed about 1,400 persons in the United States.
