INTERVIEW WITH KUNCAI MATERIAL TECHNOLOGY

Fujian Kuncai Material Technology Co., Ltd., founded in 1999, develops and manufactures pearlescent pigments and is headquartered in Fuqing City, in the Fujian Province of Southern China. It has regional sales offices in China, Europe, North America, India, Korea and Australia.

Kuncai offers an extensive range of pigments for applications in automotive coatings, industrial coatings, architectural paints, plastics, cosmetics, printing and packaging inks, specialty paper & wallpapers and building materials amongst others.

Kuncai is the one of the leading manufacturers of mica based effect pigments. Beside this, Kuncai has an own engineered synthetic mica-based effect pigment. A patented, optimized production process ensures consistent and easily reproducible mica quality standards. An own engineered production of synthetic mica is fully integrated into the other effect pigment production processes at the company’s manufacturing sites. In addition, Kuncai is continuously developing its R&D capabilities, application know-how and quality controls to fulfill the requirements of highly demanding application areas.

  • Innovative Plants near Fuqing, Fuzhou, China;
  • Overall Capacity of 20,000 Tons of Synthetic Mica Substrate;
  • 30,000 Tons Annual Production Capacity for Mica-based Effect Pigments;
  • Fully Automated Production and Packaging Facilities;
  • Global Sales Organization;
  • New Quality and Analytics Lab Facilities;
  • On-site Application Center;
  • ISO Certified 9001:2008, 14001:2004 and OHSAS Certified 18001:2007.

Easy Engineering: Tell us about your ranges of products?

KUNCAI: Kuncai offers a wide range of effect pigments based on various different substrates, from natural to synthetic mica and borosilicate. Based on advanced production and process technologies, Kuncai offers best-in class products especially when it comes to color intensity, high chroma and high reflection effect pigment characteristics. We also supply special products for demanding outdoor applications, cosmetic applications and specialized industrial applications.

E.E: What special characteristics do your products have?

KUNCAI: Kuncai offers a wide range of effect pigments based on various different substrates, from natural to synthetic mica and borosilicate. Based on advanced production and process technologies, Kuncai offers best-in class products especially when it comes to color intensity, high chroma and high reflection effect pigment characteristics. We also supply special products for demanding outdoor applications, cosmetic applications and specialized industry applications.

A Focus on Three Major Product Substrates (Natural Mica, Synthetic Mica, Borosilicate) 

  • Small to Big Particle Size Effect Pigments with Optimized Particle Size Distributions
  • High Color Intensity
  • Strong Chroma
  • High Reflection

All Major Color Areas (Silver White, Interference, Gold, Metallic and Multicolor) 

E.E: In what kind of projects are they used?

KUNCAI: Kuncai effect pigments are suitable for all major applications where the enhancement and esthetic perception of surfaces play an important role. Whether they are technically or esthetically driven, our products can be found in a vast number of end applications and different materials: automotive (interior and exterior), consumer goods, seed coatings, paper coatings, ceramics and glass, composites, decorative cosmetics and personal care products.

  • Automotive Coatings
  • Architectural and Industrial Coatings
  • Plastics
  • Printing Inks
  • Cosmetics

Example Cosmetic Application

Example Color Stylings for home Electrics:

E.E: How do your products differ from others?

KUNCAI: Kuncai’s key product lines are pigments based on the company’s core competence: synthetic mica. Its transparency and properties as a substrate ensure the pigment has a limited influence on the background color and allows for greater color intensity.

Due to the low thickness of synthetic mica platelets and their rounded particle structure, their use produces a more even surface appearance after application. Depending on the application system in which the effect pigment has been integrated, this can also result in improved haptic properties. Cosmetic functional fillers, in particular, are characterized by a smooth texture and an outstandingly pleasant skin feel.

As synthetic mica is more flexible and shatter-proof than its natural counterpart, its use in paints and masterbatch production results in a much more limited loss of effect intensity in the end application than one would experience with natural mica.

  • Product Features:
  • High Transparency
  • Exceptional Reflectivity
  • High Chroma Colors
  • Bright and Clear Base Color
  • Intense Interference Colors
  • Smooth and Very Even Surface Structure
  • Reduced Cracking
  • Low Heavy Metal Content
  • Very Low Level of Natural Impurities
  • Intense Metallic Sparkle
  • Reduced Energy Consumption During the Production Process
  • Environmentally Friendly Production Process (no Wastewater and no Air Contamination)

Application Benefits:

  • Greater Color Intensity
  • Vibrant, Clear Colors
  • Pure Color Tones without a Grey or Yellow Tinge
  • Extensive Styling Potential for Every Color Shade
  • Silver White Effects with a High Degree of Whiteness and Vivid Luster
  • Interference Color Tones with Intense Color
  • Metallic Colors with a Pronounced Metallic Appearance
  • Less Impact on the Background Color than Natural Mica

E.E: How are they used by your clients?

KUNCAI: The high-performance effect pigments offer unlimited styling potential for many different application areas. They can easily be incorporated in coatings, plastics, inks or cosmetics and guarantee a final product that stands out from the crowd. Kuncai effect pigments can be used to highlight the characteristics of a finished product and support its positioning by colorful shimmer, shine or sparkle in single colors or color travel over different color tones.

E.E: What kind of problems do your clients face on the job site?

KUNCAI: Kuncai effect pigments can be used in a wide variety of final applications. Owing to the physical properties of effect pigments, the following applies to all the various processing systems to avoid any reduced or no effect of our pigments:

  • The thicker the effect pigment layer, the stronger the effect.
  • The higher the pigment concentration, the greater the hiding power.
  • The appearance varies significantly depending on the effect pigments chosen, from silky to sparkling.

The more transparent the effect pigment carrying layer is, the greater the:

  • Brilliance
  • Effect strength
  • Tinting strength
  • Color clarity

Even surfaces increase the intensity of the effect (due to the orientation of the pigment to the surface).

E.E: How do your products help them overcome these problems?

KUNCAI: Through their high clarity and intensity of our products customers could achieve a better final color effect and a stronger stand out of the crowd effect. The final product is shinier, more colorful and looks more alive through the used effect pigment, that gives the product a depth and lively appearance. Beside this the products could be used in a lower concentration to have the same effect in the final product – that also gives an economic advantage.

E.E: Tell us about the future improvement of your products?

KUNCAI: Kuncai is will stronger focus on the further development of synthetic mica-based effect pigments. This substrate ensures the best-in-class effect pigments. We are enlarging the product portfolio to more colorful color tones in the edge of the color space. We are working especially on colorful and high reflective tones in the purple, orange, bronze and green tones.

Beside this, we are also working on more functional products on the base of synthetic mica.

In addition, the business will be also enlarged in the next years in the area of opaque pigments as Titanium dioxide and iron oxide products.

E.E: Is there a special project that your products were used in?

KUNCAI: We could not always say in which final products our effect pigments were used or also a lot of customers want to not lay about the ingredient details.

KUNCAI MATERIAL TECHNOLOGY CO., LTD

Dr. Corinna Ludwig, Global Marketing Director

Email: corinna@kuncaieurope.com

Website: www.kuncai-pigments.com

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/1918840 / https://www.linkedin.com/company/10227854

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCbektHc2xKEhWxX6V5f8DRg