Every year, the ALTANA Innovation Award honors the global specialty chemicals group’s most promising new developments. This year, a team from ALTANA’s ECKART division came out on top. The award went to the new METALURE C series developed in the US and Germany.

Chrome or a chrome look? In the future, it will become more difficult to tell the difference because ECKART’s award-winning product series creates novel chrome looks and offers a choice of light and dark silver metallic shades. The effect pigments create a veritable mirror effect. Plus, the light-dark shades of the surfaces are comparable to those of products that have been coated with a metallic layer and thus serve as a substitute for metallization processes containing chrome VI.

The METALURE C series relies on a concentration of ultra-thin vacuum-metallized pigments (VMP). The advantage for customers: The products are easy to process and can therefore be used in different printing and coating systems. In addition, the newly developed products improve the ecological balance. Compared to products already available on the market, the carbon footprint is slashed by over ten percent.

The pigments are used in particular in coatings for consumer electronics, household appliances, and for the interior and exterior trim of vehicles. They are also used in the printing industry.

“The innovative effect pigments are a trendsetting development, as they set new standards in terms of sustainability and quality. The fact that the development centered on customer benefits is clearly reflected by the mounting demand in the market. The interdisciplinary winning team has impressively demonstrated what distinguishes ALTANA – innovative strength and customer focus,” says Petra Severit, ALTANA’S chief technology officer.

The Innovation Award, with which ALTANA recognizes outstanding research achievements on the part of its employees, was presented this year for the eleventh time. In addition to innovative prowess, criteria such as creativity, economic efficiency, and sustainability are also taken into account in the assessment.