Optical brighteners for white and filler masterbatch
A masterbatch concentrates the brightener twenty to a hundred times over the let-down dosage, so every weakness in the grade - poor dispersion, thermal drift, migration - is amplified before it ever reaches the customer's extruder.
What the grade has to survive
Four things that decide the choice
- Heat stability at masterbatch compounding temperature, not just at let-down
- Dispersion in the carrier resin so the concentrate does not speck
- No migration or blooming during storage of the pellet
- Dosage arithmetic that survives the let-down ratio
These are the constraints we work through with customers on this application. Everything on this page traces back to the published data for the grades listed below.
Grades for white masterbatch
Optical brightener OB-1
The heat-resistance specialist.
Optical brightener OB
The workhorse of the benzoxazole family and the grade most plastics buyers are matching when their specification says Uvitex OB or Tinopal OB.
Optical brightener KSN
The migration-resistant grade.
Optical brightener KCB
A naphthalene-bridged bisbenzoxazole developed for EVA foam, and still the first choice for footwear midsoles.
Background reading on white masterbatch
How to Choose the Right Optical Brightener for Whitening Masterbatches
As the demand for high-whiteness plastic products increases, whitening masterbatches have become an essential component in the plastics industry. These
The optical brighteners masterbatches
A masterbatch is a concentrated mixture of pigments and additives blended and extruded together in a carrier matrix, such as resin or wax. The additives
Optical Brightener for Filler Masterbatches
Filler masterbatches may not be widely recognized by consumers, but they play a critical role in the plastics processing industry.
The fluorescent whitening agent in masterbatches
At present, some plastic manufacturers widely use "color masterbatches", also known as masterbatch or masterbatch. Color masterbatches are fluorescent brighteners
Related markets
Plastics
In a polymer the brightener has to dissolve into the melt, survive the process temperature and then stay put.…
Paints, coatings & inks
Coatings split cleanly into two camps. Oil-based and solvent systems take OB, which dissolves in the resin…
PVC compounding
PVC is the one polymer where a brightener rarely travels alone. The same compound needs a heat stabiliser to…
Other application briefs
PVC foam board
Foam board yellows for two reasons at once - thermal stress during expansion and the intrinsic cast…
PVC pipe & profile
Pipe and profile are extruded hot, run long, and are judged on appearance for decades in sunlight.…
PP woven bags
Woven sack tape is drawn hot and thin, often from a resin blend that includes recycled material.…
EVA shoe soles
Footwear foam is the application KCB was developed for. The expansion step destroys a poorly chosen…
Blown film
In film the brightener has to raise apparent whiteness without touching clarity, and it has to do…
Recycled plastics
Recyclate arrives with a yellow-grey cast that no amount of washing removes. A brightener is the…
Send us the white masterbatch brief
Substrate, process temperature, whiteness target and trial quantity. That is everything we need to name a grade.