Engineered Polymers for Colored Connectors

Bob Kaminski here! As Director of New Business at Penn Color, I’ve learned that when working with engineered polymers, understanding the chemical interactions between formula components is key to effective problem-solving.

One of our customers faced a significant issue: their black material was turning grey, and that grey eventually turned white. They were using a special grade of glass-filled resin to produce colored connectors, but the colors were washing out after the connectors were conditioned. We collaborated closely with the resin producer and conducted some analytical testing, which revealed a chemical reaction between the resin and the pigments in the colorants supplied by their current vendor.

Armed with this insight, we were able to reformulate the colorants within a few weeks to prevent the reaction. The samples performed well, and testing confirmed no further color fading! As a result, we now supply both the black and grey colorants, and the customer is in the process of converting most of their other colors to Penn Color.