Case Study: How to use IncroMold K to reduce scratch whiteness in automotive plastics
The customer problem
A customer was compounding polypropylene impact copolymer for use in automotive interior trim and was adding IncroMold S as a mold release and anti-scratch additive. The mould release performance of this product was great but they wanted to know more about our range of anti-scratch additives. They needed a solution that would help to reduce scratch whiteness and visibility.
How did we help?
We offer a range of anti-scratch additives for different applications and polymers, each with its own benefit in use. Our technical experts at our plastics R&D lab were able to speak to the customer about their formulation, application and specific requirements in the final part. We were able to offer the customer a small number of samples to try in their compounding process, then we helped them to test the products by moulding small plaques and performing scratch testing in our labs. Data for scratch width, depth and whiteness were produced. We discussed the results of the tests with the customers and recommended a product and addition level for them to use.
The solution
The results showed that IncroMold K gave better scratch results compared to the other additives tested. In particular, IncroMold K demonstrated the best results for reducing scratch whiteness which resulted in the least visible scratch. The customer also observed that IncroMold K gave an advantage over competitor additives for gloss.
Have a look at this example of cross-hatch testing on PP impact copolymer with 1% IncroMold K (R) and without IncroMold K (L).
