BASF Catalysts LLC is a surface and materials science company focused on developing technologies that dramatically improve products and processes. As a Fortune 500 company, we employ more than 6,500 people in 24 countries worldwide with 65 manufacturing and research and development facilities.
At BASF Catalysts, we take pride in our ability to adapt our technologies to the particular requirements of our customers and their diverse markets – not the other way around. It’s not surprising that the worldwide packaging industry continues to turn to BASF Catalysts technologies every day. And while your customers may not always see the BASF Catalysts name, our products are there, helping to improve your products and strengthen your brands. Across industries, BASF Catalysts color and special effect pigments and films are used to drive new aesthetic trends, create dynamic visual impact and improve brand recognition and product differentiation.
SPECIAL EFFECT AND COLOR PIGMENTS
Organic Pigments
BASF Catalysts organic pigments include a wide range of colors as well as the renowned Rightfit™ azo pigments which provide excellent value and precise performance in plastics, inks and architectural and specialty coatings. A number of Rightfit organic pigments are FDA approved for specific food industry applications.
Special Effect Pigments
BASF Catalysts special effect pigments can help plastic and paper package manufacturers drive new aesthetic trends, create more dynamic visual impact and improve brand recognition and product differentiation. More than merely reflecting light, these special effect pigments actually manipulate light energy to create visual excitement, and add the look of luxury to product packaging. This diverse family of pigments adds luster, color, dimensionality, depth, opalescence, pearlescence and other unique characteristics to create exceptional end-use products.
BASF Catalysts Lumina® colors create intriguing and dramatic visual effects, and feature increased chromaticity at the reflection angle with higher color purity and clarity than traditional interference colors. The result is cleaner shades, more saturated colors and stronger flip-flop effects in coatings, plastics and inks.
Another example of BASF Catalysts technology, Firemist® patented borosilicate-based pigments bring products to life with brilliant color and glittering effects. These advanced pigment, are specially formulated to out-perform traditional pearlescent pigments in chroma, color purity, brightness, transparency and reflectivity. Firemist pigments give designers and formulators a spectrum of advanced optical effects to work with from for multicolor effects. Firemist pigments also enhance the feeling of depth through light penetration.
BASF Catalysts technologists can help plastic and paper package manufacturers create new colors and special effects that make products really stand out on the shelf. BASF Catalysts also maintains a database of commercial starting point formulations for well-known brand packaging colors. Customers rely on this service to help them achieve these colors cost-effectively.
Co-processed pigments
It’s widely accepted that most color pigments over-perform for the application they’re intended, and formulators sometimes pay a premium for performance they don’t need. To solve this problem and help formulators control their overall costs, BASF Catalysts scientists created Synergy™ color pigments. The co-processed pigments represent a truly “synergistic” use of BASF Catalysts ability to optimize organic and inorganic chemistries around desired properties.
BASF Catalysts co-processed pigments are custom formulated to meet the essential criteria of a specific application and de-emphasize the less important ones, e.g., strategically optimizing color strength while giving up a degree of lightfastness. They deliver improved properties, and in nearly all cases, value superior to alternative pigments in the same shade range. Synergy pigments can expand formulation capabilities into many demanding applications where lightfastness, weatherability, heat stability, improved rheological properties and cost efficiency may be required.
Inorganic Pigments
BASF Catalysts complex inorganic color pigments, or CCIPs, are ideal for use in metal roofing, vinyl siding, mobile home sheeting and building trim, as well as outside grills, furniture, plastic materials, residential and commercial appliances and equipment. They are extremely lightfast, resistant to temperature, chemicals (including acid and alkali) and long-term weathering, and are easy to disperse.
