ALTANA Innovation Award 2021 Honors Pioneering Technology in Metallic Effect Pigments
WESEL, Germany – Every year, the ALTANA Innovation Award honors the most promising new developments of the global specialty chemicals group. In 2021, the ECKART division won the prize for the second time in a row. It went to a technology for the development of a completely new product family of SiO2-encapsulated metallic effect pigments used in different areas of the automotive industry.
SiO2 stands for silicon dioxide, one of the materials used for coating metallic effect pigments used in automotive waterborne paints. The team that developed the product family, consisting of Dr. Oliver Bedford, Frank Hippmann, Dr. Dirk Schumacher and Dr. Oliver Struck, devised a novel technology for the production of such pigments. The patented technology can be applied to both classically ball-milled and PVD (physical capor deposition) pigments. The special feature is the modification of the pigment surface with the help of oligomeric silanes.