US plastics additives company TenasiTech (Boston, Massachusetts; www.tenasitech.com) has launched “Solid-TT”, a PA additive that greatly improves scuff resistance. Painting or hard coating has been the traditional solution for resisting scratch and surface marring but this requires extra processing steps with a consequential increase in manufacturing costs.

According to TenasiTech’s CEO, Richard Marshall, Solid-TT is a great and unique option for scuff-resistant plastics where hard-coating is too costly, and opportunities abound for many engineering thermoplastics. He explained that there are no problems with long-term durability, or surface rub-off as the additive is dispersed within the polymer. In addition, unlike hard-coating, sheets can be thermoformed with Solid-TT included, giving unlimited design options. The additive also causes minimal discolouration and gloss reduction with hardly any change to viscosity or melt-flow when added at a standard 1% by weight.

According to TenasiTech, results have revealed a significant increase in scratch resistance, wear and toughness when 1% Solid-TT was added to PA 6, and PA 12.