Tosaf's latest laser additives allow accurate marking on diverse polymers

Numerous products require various markings on their surfaces, which typically include important information for consumers such as expiry dates for food or medicine, production batch markings, and more. Traditional marking methods include ink printing, stamping, engraving, etching, or attaching stickers. However, these methods are often not environmentally friendly and have operational limitations.

Printing, for example, can be sensitive to environmental factors and may fade or be erased over time, while stickers can fall off or become damaged. Engraving or etching is only suitable for smooth surfaces and may not allow for complex markings or symbols such as barcodes.

Moreover, most of these methods require the purchase of expensive dedicated equipment or manual labor by operators on the production floor, which can increase the overall cost of the final product.

Tosaf's new series of environmentally friendly laser additives offers versatile light and dark color marking on various backgrounds, ensuring transparency and cost-benefit ratio.

Laser marking is a highly accurate and permanent marking method that can be carried out at high speeds, making it suitable for commercial use. It can create complex shapes, not just letters or numbers, and the marking itself is resistant to abrasion and scratching and cannot be erased. As a non-contact process, it eliminates the risk of damaging sensitive product surfaces beyond the marking area.

Tosaf's new, environmentally friendly laser additives offers versatile light and dark color marking on various backgrounds.

While the laser marking method is suitable for many polymers, not all can be marked without additives that mediate between the laser reaction and the polymer. In recent years, technological advancements in laser marking equipment have made it more accessible and cost-effective for industries to adopt this technology.

In addition to its advantages, laser marking offers significant environmental benefits. It eliminates the need for inks, stickers, or engraving, which are often harmful to the operator’s work environment and the environment in general. Laser marking technology also simplifies the recycling process for products as it avoids the need for treatment of ink residues, which can affect the quality of the raw material obtained.

Furthermore, this technology can replace the need for stickers and labels, resulting in plastic packaging without any foreign materials. This approach also simplifies the recycling process for packaging as it avoids the use of paper and eliminates the need to separate stickers or labels.

Omri Mazar, phD, Manager of the Special Additives Department at Tosaf, said, “These innovative additives offer exceptional transparency without compromising the optical properties of the product. They are compatible with a wide range of polymers and exclude chemicals that raise regulatory concerns, such as antimony. Additionally, they perform well in environments containing fillers like Calcium Carbonate, talc, titanium dioxide, or carbon black. Notably, these additives achieve higher marking accuracy, requiring only a minimal dosage of a few percent, which represents a negligible increase in the raw material cost.”

The company's newly launched solutions enable dark marking on both transparent and opaque backgrounds, light marking on dark backgrounds, grayscale marking, and cost-effective black marking on transparent gray backgrounds.

Thanks to its inherent advantages, laser marking technology is particularly well-suited for various external applications such as pipes, pipe accessories, profiles, and irrigation products. The marking additives are approved for food contact applications, including barcode marking on beverage caps and marking expiration dates or batch numbers on transparent food packaging.

Tosaf offers customizable options for these additives to cater to specific client requirements. Additionally, they can be obtained as Combi Batch along with other additives like UV stabilizers and colorants.