German masterbatches and plastics compounds producer Grafe (Blankenhain; www.grafe.com) has developed colour additive combination masterbatches that it says have improved UV and thermal stabilisation of ABS for automotive applications, with lower addition doses required. UV radiation accelerates the aging of plastic materials, and the company notes that in the automotive sector, many indoor and outdoor applications are exposed to direct sunlight, where good load-bearing capacity and high heat resistance are also required.

Jan Stadermann, head of the Material Sciences department, said, "Our development goal here was to reduce the required addition dosage of the color additive combination masterbatches from 6.5% to 4% without compromising quality." According to Grafe, the improved performance of its new masterbatches could also offer cost savings of up to 30% when purchasing raw materials.