Avient launches metallic-effect pre-colored sulfone formulations for Ultrason®
Plastic parts that look like metal are usually painted. Avient has taken that step out, with sulfone compounds that produce the metallic finish in the mould.
On 15 October 2024, at the 29th Fakuma International Trade Fair for Plastics Processing in Friedrichshafen, Germany, Avient launched its Colorant Chromatics metallic-effect pre-colored sulfone formulations. Three colours are offered — gold, silver and bronze. The point of the product is that the metallic finish comes out of the moulding process, so no secondary operation is required.
Avient cites lower energy use, reduced weight and lower VOC emissions against conventional painting as the sustainability case. Because the base is a sulfone, ultra-high heat and chemical resistance are retained for repeated sterilisation cycles and heavy cleaning. The target applications are medical devices, automotive components and consumer electronics. The technology was developed in collaboration with BASF, making metallic-coloured grades of Ultrason® high-performance polymers available to the market.
- Product
- Colorant Chromatics™ metallic-effect pre-colored sulfone formulations
- Colours
- Gold, silver, bronze
- Base resin
- Sulfones — grades developed with BASF Ultrason®
- Process
- Colour developed during injection moulding; no secondary painting
- Against painting
- Lower energy use, reduced weight, lower VOC emissions
- Performance
- Ultra-high heat and chemical resistance; repeated sterilisation and heavy cleaning
- Target applications
- Medical devices, automotive components, consumer electronics
- Announced
- 15 October 2024, Fakuma 2024 (Friedrichshafen, Germany)
Source: Avient press release, 15 October 2024 · manufacturer product page
Start with why removing the paint matters. Sulfones resist chemicals well, which also means paint does not adhere to them easily. Even over a primer, adhesion is the first thing to fail through repeated steam sterilisation and alkaline cleaning. On a medical device, delaminating paint is not a cosmetic problem but a particulate one. Pre-colouring puts the colour inside the resin, so that failure mode disappears. The cost of a paint line, its ovens and its rework comes second.
Metallic-effect pigments do need different handling from ordinary colour, though. Platelet pigments orient with the flow, so gate position and flow path show up in the finished surface: weld lines and flow marks read as colour variation, and gloss shifts where wall thickness changes abruptly. Signing off colour on a plaque is not enough — a trial shot in the real tool, inspected area by area, is effectively mandatory. The usual sulfone conditions still apply: above 340°C and pre-drying.
Procurement also differs from a masterbatch route. A pre-colored compound ties resin grade and colour into one part number, so minimum order quantity and lead time attach to each colour. For a product family using several colours, reducing the number of colours has a direct cost effect. For medical use, biocompatibility data (the ISO 10993 series) and sterilisation-specific validation must be confirmed for the coloured compound — base resin documentation does not carry over.
Octud supplies both Avient Colorant Chromatics and BASF Ultrason®, so resin grade selection and the coloured compound can be settled through one channel, with small evaluation quantities for a trial shot and colour verification handled together.
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This article was written by Octud from facts published in Avient's press release of 15 October 2024 (Fakuma 2024) and the manufacturer's product page. The photograph is the image supplied with the Avient release. Everything after 'Octud note' is Octud's own technical commentary and is not part of the release. Colorant Chromatics™ is a trademark of Avient; Ultrason® of BASF.
Tritan™ and Eastar™ are trademarks of Eastman Chemical Company, INFINO® of Lotte Chemical, and Ultrason® of BASF SE. Competitor product names are used solely for factual identification and comparison, and do not imply affiliation or endorsement.