Plastic converters transform customer concepts into usable components. This requires precision and rigorous quality control to match the final product with the client’s specifications. Converting involves melting and blending color pellets from a masterbatcher and then using a process like injection molding, blow molding, or extrusion to develop a final form. This process puts tremendous stress on polymers, therefore, maintaining color consistency throughout the process can be a challenge. Implementing a robust color quality control program is crucial to the success of your product.
Digital color management tools ensure color precision and consistency of final products. By using devices such as spectrophotometers, converters can accurately measure color to ensure consistency between production runs of final product. Color management devices help ensure you are meeting customer color requirements while accounting for factors that affect visual color perception like opacity, gloss, surface temperature and texture.
Plastic converters face several significant challenges when it comes to ensuring color quality and consistency of their products. Three primary concerns are variations in raw materials, environmental conditions during production, and the ability to ensure consistency of final products.
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The quality and characteristics of raw materials, such as resins and pigments, can vary significantly from one batch to another. This variability can affect the final color of the plastic products. Measuring all raw materials with a spectrophotometer as an initial quality control check prior to melting and blending with resins should be part of any QC program.
The conditions under which plastic is processed – including temperature, humidity, and machine settings – can have a profound impact on the color of your final product. Small fluctuations in these environmental factors can alter the way colorants disperse or how materials react, leading to inconsistencies in color and therefore, maintaining a controlled and consistent production environment is crucial.
Accurately measuring and matching colors prior to full yield production is essential for converters. The subjective nature of human color perception between different observers makes purely visual evaluation an imprecise method of managing QC and a more thorough analysis with a spectrophotometer is required. In addition, differences in the opacity, gloss, and shade of materials can lead to inconsistencies in the end product, making it difficult to maintain standard color quality across different production runs.
Digital color management tools for converters, like spectrophotometers, can make quality control of your products much easier. Consistent output is the key to repeat customers, and our spectrophotometers help ensure a higher rate of consistency and accuracy so customers know they can depend on you to get color right the first time.
Datacolor spectrophotometers can be broken up into two groups: benchtops for high accuracy color measurements in a stationary setting and portable spectrophotometers for quality control checks when you’re on the go.
Ensuring that your customers get the exact same color from order to order is critical to the success of your company. With a proper quality control program in place, your customers will learn they can rely on you for consistent quality.
