Consumables
Quality pigments for paints and coatings – 85 years of experience serving the customer
Friday 25. March 2011 - LANXESS at the European Coatings Show 2011, March 29 - 31, Nuremberg, Hall 7, Stand No. 7-137
Bayferrox high-performance pigments for the most challenging of demands
Leverkusen – Specialty chemicals company LANXESS is presenting its comprehensive product portfolio for the surface coatings industry at the European Coatings Show in Nuremberg from March 29 – 31 under the motto “Pigments + Protection”. The showcased products include in particular Bayferrox red shades for paint and coating applications and yellow pigments with special properties.
With the high complexity of modern coating systems, the demands on the coating raw materials are growing too. LANXESS range of high-performance pigments more than meets the increasing requirements of the customers with respect to maximum consistency of quality for color shade and tinting strength, easy processability and reliability of quality. According to Dr. Volker Schneider of the Global Competence Center Paint, LANXESS Inorganic Pigments Marketing, “the decisive advantages of our high-performance products are their tight tolerances with respect to shade and tinting strength. This makes color reproduction when formulating paints and coatings faster, easier and more reliable; shading work is reduced to a minimum.” In addition, these pigments are characterized by very good dispersibility. This is achieved through micronization, a very intensive form of grinding that results in a significant reduction in the proportion of pigment aggregates in the product.
The outstanding properties of the yellow low-silking pigment Bayferrox 915 result from its unique particle morphology. While in conventional iron oxide yellow pigments primary particles form needle-like structures, the particles in Bayferrox 915 are nearly spherical. Application by brush therefore does not cause the “pigment needles” to point in the direction of the brush strokes, and the silking effect is avoided. The spherical pigment structure also has a positive effect on the viscosity behavior of finished pigment preparations.
Another iron oxide yellow pigment, Bayferrox 3910, was specially developed for highly filled pigment pastes. Micronization ensures especially good dispersibility in fast-moving dissolvers. It also allows higher pigment concentrations in the pigment pastes compared to “normal” Bayferrox 3910.
The reds of the Bayferrox 100 line cover a very broad range of hues, extending from a yellowish cast to a distinctly bluish shade. The special quality properties achieved in the manufacture of these high-performance pigments are due not least to the use of the Laux process. This lends the pigments their excellent heat resistance and protects them from changes in the hue even when they are subjected to intense milling, grinding or dispersion. This is the reason for the widespread popularity of these red pigments in nearly all temperature ranges relevant to the paint and coatings industry. The excellent quality consistency of these Bayferrox grades provides a reliable basis for all customers whose products have to comply with very tight and consistent color specifications over long periods.
Customers in a wide variety of industries have been putting their trust in Bayferrox pigments for 85 years. For LANXESS, sustainability in production is extremely important. The high grinding stability and consistency of color quality achieved in the manufacture of these pigments is due not least to the Laux process. This process has been used in the worlds largest production facility for inorganic pigments at the companys site in Krefeld-Uerdingen since 1926. This method is exemplary in its consistent use of the reaction heat generated during the synthesis of the iron oxide pastes. This heat is used for the production of steam and hot water for subsequent process steps. The result is a process that requires virtually no external heat and whose energy efficiency is currently unsurpassed.
At 4 p.m. on March 28, Volker Schneider will deliver a presentation at the European Coatings Congress entitled “Red iron oxide pigments – all the same?” where he will explore the special features of the red hues produced using the Laux process. In addition, a new brochure will be available at the trade show, which will focus exclusively on the particularly heat-resistant grades of LANXESS pigments.