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- Highlights for furniture and flooring coatings and the printing and packaging industry at the European Coatings Show

The comprehensive product portfolio of BASF provides customers with a complete toolbox of solutions to their needs. At the European Coatings Show (March 29 - 31) in Nuremberg, Germany, BASF will feature a range of established products and new solutions to formulate coatings for furniture and flooring applications. Further, the company will present its product offer for the printing and packaging industry ( booth 411 in hall 7A) .

Coatings for furniture and flooring
The market of coatings for furniture and flooring is extremely diverse and ranges from kitchen and bathroom furniture to luxury parquet floors. With its products BASF delivers environmentally friendly solutions and innovative technologies that meet the high performance requirements of this diverse market.

High-performance pigments for laminates
BASF offers the most complete range of high-performance pigments for deco laminates and PVC floors, fulfilling highest quality requirements such as resistance to light and chemicals. Being available in many colors and shades, it is possible to create endless color options. At the ECS, BASF will present the high-performance brands Cromophtal®, Cinquasia®, Irgazin® and Heliogen® for the formulation of laminate and PVC inks.

Joncryl® OH 8312
With Joncryl® OH 8312 BASF will feature a two-component water-based dispersion for the formulation of highly resistant industrial furniture coatings. The highly reactive hydroxyl-functional dispersion is particularly suitable in combination with products which provide extra hardening properties such as Basonat® LR 9056. This combination is especially suited for industrial topcoats in the kitchen and bathroom area where excellent finishes and long durability are a necessity.



Laromer® UV resins

At the ECS, BASF will also feature three innovations in the range of water-based UV-curable dispersions which provide many advantages for wood and plastic coatings. The cost-effective acrylic dispersion Laromer® WA 9057 provides good chemical resistance and very low yellowing. With Laromer® UA 9060 BASF also offers an urethane acrylate dispersion with excellent scratch and chemical resistance. The third product, Laromer® UA 9064, provides low yellowing, excellent hardness as well as scratch and chemical resistance. All three products are VOC-free and characterized by excellent physical drying, perfect blocking properties as well as high efficiency. From its portfolio of UV resins for 100 % systems, BASF will present Laromer® PE 9074 and Laromer® PE 9079; two monomer-free UV binders. Due to their different viscosity range these UV resins can be applied to a broad range of applications in wood and plastic coatings but also in printing applications.



Efka® 2010 defoamer

In Nuremberg, BASF will launch a new silicone-free defoamer for solvent-based applications. Efka® 2010 is suitable for primers and pigmented as well as non-pigmented coating systems. The defoamer displays a higher compatibility (minimized in-can haziness) with most solvent-based binders while providing a high defoaming efficiency.



Printing and packaging

Sharp, vibrant colors and innovative, durable finishes help to maximize consumer appeal and boost sales. With BASF, customers in the printing and packaging industry have a strong partner that provides attractive high-performance and eco-friendly solutions.



Color for printing

As the No. 1 pigment supplier for the coatings, plastics and printing industries BASF is fully committed to foster its position in high-end printing applications. At the ECS, BASF will present its consolidated portfolio of pigments, dyes and preparations for printing. The offer is specifically targeted at the high-quality segments of packaging as well as industrial and digital printing. With Irgalite® Yellow BXFL, Irgalite® Rubine 4BGL and the industry benchmark Irgalite® Blue GLVO, BASF offers high-end azo and phthalocyanine pigments. In addition, BASF provides the most complete range of high-performance pigments, available in many colors and suitable for many applications such as high-end packaging and industrial printing applications. In these areas differentiated colors and good fastness properties are especially important.



Pigments for digital printing

The future of printing is digital. The pigments Cinquasia® Jet and Cromophtal® Jet from BASF for inkjet applications are products with very fine and narrow particle size distribution and provide high levels of quality consistency. Highly transparent Microlith® preparations as well as the high-quality dyes Basacid® and Orasol® complete the offer and make BASF the leading supplier of color to the digital printing industry.



Effects for printing and packaging

At the ECS, BASF will also present its range of the high-end metallic pigment Metasheen® and the complete portfolio of pearlescent pigments including Glacier™ Frost White, the whitest pearlescent pigment. Further, BASF will feature the effect pigment Lumina® which enables beautiful sparkling effects in different colors with high chromaticity and transparency.



Microlith® preparations

Life can be a lot easier when using pigment preparations. They can save production time and reduce costs and waste. With Microlith®, BASF offers a range of powder pigment preparations with suitable grades for water, solvent and energy-curing inks for all printing applications. Microlith® is easy to disperse and available in many colors, providing high transparency and brilliance. In combination with metallic or pearlescent pigments, stunning effects can easily be achieved. BASF’s Microlith® K pigment preparations are the state-of-the-art color solutions for inkjet inks. The particle size distribution of these pre-dispersed pigments is extremely narrow and fine. This leads to high brilliance while at the same time the demands for the use in digital printing are met.



Pigments for sustainable solutions

Sustainability is presently a focus for BASF and will become even more important in the future. With its broad range of pigments, BASF can provide solutions to future requirements. As an example of its contribution to eco-friendly applications such as compostable plastic bags, BASF will present Heliogen® Blue D 7460, a metal-free phthalocyanine pigment.

Joncryl® FLX line, water-based technology for medium-duty film printing
Joncryl styrene-acrylic resins and emulsions are the key components of high-performance inks and coatings. In Nuremberg, BASF will feature its broad Joncryl® FLX line. Joncryl® FLX products are successfully used in water-based inks for film-printing applications. With BASF’s Joncryl® FLX line the conversion from solvent-based to water-based printing inks for medium-duty film applications is a high-quality, cost-effective alternative.

Irgacure® photoinitiators and Laromer® resins
BASF will also feature its Irgacure® photoinitiators and Laromer® resins product line for printing and packaging applications. The Laromer® product line offers high-performance binders resulting in emission-free energy curing of printing inks and overprint varnishes. BASF’s Irgacure® photoinitiators are essential components for the UV curing process and set the industry standard for initiating the polymerization process to quickly reach the final cross-linked printing ink and overprint varnish. Curing faster and more economically than traditional methods, UV- and electron-beam curing lead to a higher efficiency with substantial savings in energy, time and labor. At the same time, higher gloss and resistance improve the overall quality of the print.

Efka® dispersing agents
In Nuremberg, BASF will also launch its new range of high- performance dispersing agents. Efka® 7701, Efka® 7731 and Efka® 7732 are tailor-made for high-performance printing applications and provide superior rheological properties as well as unmatched pigment dispersion stability. This allows best-in-class inkjet inks that set new performance benchmarks for the whole industry.

Liquid rather than solid: liquid N-vinyl caprolactam (NVC) from BASF
BASF has developed an interesting alternative form of the well-known, tried and tested reactive diluent N-vinyl caprolactam (NVC): the product is now available in liquid form as well for use in formulating UV-curable screen and digital printing inks. Not only does the liquid product feature easier handling than solid NVC, it even enhances the well-known performance of NVC such as high cure speed, adhesion to plastics and film flexibility. In processing, the new product offers the benefits of greater process reliability at reduced production costs. Using the liquid NVC variety is a recommended option in particular for industrial inkjet printers that produce weatherproof advertising posters for outdoor display.

Dr. Uwe Liebelt (44) will become President of BASF’s Paper Chemicals division, located in Basel, Switzerland, effective April 1, 2011. Liebelt is currently Senior Vice President, Dispersions & Pigments North America located in Charlotte, North Carolina.