Liquid color for cast urethane and PU systems
Low-viscosity dispersions that meter cleanly into cast PU and liquid resin systems, custom-matched to your standard.
Low-viscosity dispersions that meter cleanly into cast PU and liquid resin systems, custom-matched to your standard.
Cast polyurethane runs as a low-viscosity liquid right up to cure. A polyol meets an isocyanate, the mix has a short working window, and the part sets. Color has to disperse fully and evenly inside that window without changing the reaction.
Liquid dispersions are built for exactly that. They pour and meter at low viscosity, integrate with the resin stream fast, and develop full color before the system gels. A colorant that is too thick fights the mix and shows up as streaking, shade variation part to part, or, in the worst case, soft spots where local stoichiometry was disturbed. Low-viscosity liquid color avoids that failure mode. For the full treatment, see coloring cast polyurethane: why low-viscosity liquid dispersions win.
A liquid dispersion is pigment held in a carrier vehicle, and the carrier decides which system the color belongs in. We match the carrier to your chemistry rather than forcing one carrier across every job.
Plasticizer-based carriers cover cast elastomers, flexible PVC and plastisol, and integral-skin foam, and they color cast PU across a wide range of parts. Polyether polyol-based carriers are the reactive route, metered against the polyol side of a two-component cast system and formulated to the hydroxyl number of the system. Where a part has to survive sunlight, a UV and HALS package goes into the carrier to hold the shade and slow yellowing. Tell us the resin, the hardness, and the environment the part lives in, and we formulate the carrier to suit.
Liquid dispersions dose at a low addition rate and meter directly into the resin or the mix head, which removes the pre-blending step that paste color needs and lets a line change shades quickly. For third-stream dosing, the dispersion is metered into the mix head as a separate stream. For mass coloration, it is blended into the polyol side ahead of the shot.
Cast PU parts are often cut, ground, machined, or abraded in use, so the color goes through the full cross-section. A wheel that wears, a roller that is reground, or a screen panel that abrades holds its color as material is removed. Color also carries information on the floor: hardness grade, load rating, compound type, or service environment, readable at a glance.
Our liquid color is made in the United States and is Berry Amendment, REACH, RoHS, and California Proposition 65 compliant, which makes it a Berry-compliant component for military and government footwear and textile work. FDA 21 CFR food-contact documentation is available for qualifying grades on request, along with TDS and SDS for every color. Food-contact color for rollers, belting, and conveyor components runs on specific carriers, so name the requirement and we will confirm which grades carry it. Send a color reference and the resin system, and our technicians will match it, confirm the match, and ship a sample for evaluation.
A dense, high-viscosity colorant can resist blending into the thin resin and concentrate in pockets. Where it concentrates, it can throw off the local ratio of polyol to isocyanate, which shows up as soft or under-cured spots. A low-viscosity dispersion blends evenly and keeps the reaction uniform.
Yes. Liquid dispersions color the full cross-section, so parts that are cut, ground, or abraded in service keep their color as material is removed. That is what makes color usable for hardness coding and wear monitoring.
Yes. Send a PANTONE code, RAL number, Federal Standard 595 chip, hex value, or a physical sample, and we match it and confirm the match in your resin system before shipping a sample.