Black Masterbatches

A black masterbatch is carbon black pigment pre-dispersed into a carrier resin at a high loading, supplied as pellets you meter into your machine like any other feedstock. The carrier is matched to your polymer so it melts and blends in the same phase. Because the pigment is already dispersed, you avoid the dust, weighing and agglomeration problems of handling dry carbon black powder. See masterbatch vs compound vs dry pigment for the wider comparison.

They are different jobs and they pull in opposite directions. Deep jetness and a blue undertone need a small particle size, high-colour furnace black. Long-term UV protection needs a larger particle size black that is easier to disperse and screens more efficiently by weight. A pipe or geo-membrane grade and a high-gloss appearance grade are not interchangeable. Our carbon black and UV protection article sets out the trade-off in detail.

It depends on the job. For appearance-only colouring of an injection moulded part, a low let-down is usually enough to give full opacity. For outdoor UV protection in polyolefins, the industry benchmark is roughly 2–2.5% carbon black in the finished part, well dispersed — which is why the masterbatch loading and your let-down ratio have to be quoted together, never separately. Send us your target and we will specify both.

Well-dispersed carbon black at the right loading is the most durable and cost-effective UV screen available for polyolefins, which is why buried and exposed pipe, water tanks and pipes, geo-membranes and agriculture film are specified in black. Dispersion matters as much as loading: undispersed agglomerates leave unprotected polymer between them. For coloured parts that must also resist sunlight, you need UV stabiliser from our Additive Masterbatches range instead.

Match the carrier to your base polymer wherever you can — a PE carrier for polyethylene, PP for polypropylene, and a resin-specific carrier for PET masterbatch or engineering polymer masterbatch. A universal carrier is convenient when one batch has to run across several polymers, but a matched carrier gives better dispersion and does less to your melt flow index and mechanical properties.

Yes, and it is one of the most common uses. Black covers the variable grey-brown base colour of post-consumer and post-industrial recyclate, which is why so much recycled product is sold in black. Where the recyclate also needs help with processability or consistency, our Recycling Masterbatches are formulated for that. See masterbatch for recycled and PCR plastic for the full approach.

We manufacture black masterbatch for the wire, cable and electrical sector, where carbon black loading has to be controlled so the insulation stays within its electrical specification, and for packaging applications. Tell us which standard or customer specification you are working to and we will confirm what we can supply against it. Our certifications are listed on the site.

The standard method is a pressed film or a filter pressure value test: you extrude a known mass through a fine screen and measure the pressure rise, which tells you how much undispersed pigment and agglomerate is present. A quick shop-floor check is to blow a thin film and hold it to the light — specks and gels show up immediately. Ask us for the dispersion data on the grade you are trialling.

Yes. Life Color Pigments & Masterbatches is a black masterbatch manufacturer in India, producing at our plant in Vasai East, Palghar, Maharashtra. We supply black alongside white masterbatch, colour masterbatch, additive masterbatch and mono concentrates from the same site, so a customer running several grades deals with one supplier and one set of quality records. You can read more about us or contact us.