Color Questions | FAQ

How much colorant do I need?

* Price per LB or KG can be entered as a costing exercise, but valid pricing can only be obtained from a formal Badger Color Quotation.

What information is needed to start a color match?

Start your custom color match today!

As soon as we receive your target and resin in house we will submit the matches to the lab.

• What is the type/grade of resin? – Please email Resin TDS.
• What is the color target?
• What is the color description?
• What is your customer part number?
• Is this color match for liquid or pellet concentrate?
• Will the color need to be formulated for FDA approval or meet NSF requirements?
• Will the color need UV protection? If so, how many years? Is the UV for an indoor or outdoor application or to protect the product inside the container? What is the weathering method? How will failure be determined? 
• Does the color need to meet UL approval? Is so, what UL rating?
• What is the actual application/part description of the part being molded?
• What is the part thickness?
• Is this for a medical application? If yes, what medical class does the concentrate need to be formulated for?
• What is your desired LDR/use rate?
• What is the estimated annual usage of base resin for this project?
• What is the molding process (injection, extrusion, blow molding, etc.)?
• What is the heat profile?
• Do you need matte or gloss finish master file color chips?
• Will you need a sample of masterbatch or liquid concentrate or just chips for initial approval?
• What is your anticipated purchase point for the concentrate in pounds?
• What light source will the color chips be evaluated in(cool white fluorescent, daylight, horizon, etc)?

Glossary of Color Communication Terms

• Aspecular (Flat/Flop) Angles  – reflectance off from the specular angle.  We use to allow a better review of the “base” or underlying color in pearlescent effect system.

• Brightness – could be a reference like adjusting brightness on a cell phone, or meaning something like saturation, or possibly lightness/value, or flash/pearl reflection.  For us it’s probably best used for pearl effect description rather than color.

• Chroma/Chromaticity – the intensity or saturation level of a particular hue.  A hue at its highest intensity has no other color mixed with it.

• Fluorescence- excitement of a color under UV light.  Fluorescent dyes, fluorescent pigments, and optical brighteners act by absorbing ultraviolet radiation and re-radiating a portion of this energy as visible light. Can be an aspect of Metamerism

• Hue – the purest form of a color, as around a color wheel.  Colors that have not been mixed with white or black.  When we say red, yellow, green, we’re talking hues. 

• Intensity – brightness or degree of a color’s purity or saturation.  See Chromaticity

• Metamerism – a phenomenon that occurs when two objects appear to match in color under one light source but not under another.

• Opacity – the measure of the amount of light that can pass through a material.  The level of scattering and absorbing that occurs.

• Saturation – attribute of color perception that expresses the degree of departure from a gray of the same lightness.  Grays have no saturation.  See Chromaticity.  Sometimes used to reference depth of color.

• Simultaneous Contrast - refers to the way in which two different colors affect each other.  One color can change how we perceive the appearance of another when the two are placed side by side.

• Specular Reflectance (Flash) – reflectance of a beam of light at an angle equal but opposite to the incident angle; mirror like reflectance.

• Transparent vs Translucent – clear like glass vs cloudy/milky characteristics.

• Value – the natural lightness or darkness in a hue, or the amount of white or black in a color.