New product concept

Seeking Color Change Technology Sensitive to Water or Oil Formulations

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Type of Solution sought

  • A manufacturing process
  • A material
  • A technology

Description of Desired Solution

A SpecialChem Client is seeking for a colored technology that will react with a formulation containing water and oil, to become transparent or visibly paler.

Background

The SpecialChem Client is developing and commercializing marketing materials for major consumer goods organizations. They identified the opportunity to create a new market segment, but to capture this opportunity they need to develop a new product that can change color with controlled stimuli (combination of formulation and gentle rubbing).

They are looking for a technology solutions to be applied on top of their cardboard printed substrate. The difficulty comes from storage and shelf life of proven solution, as moisture is naturally present in the air. A more robust technological solution will permit successful product development, or a solution that can react to a gentle rubbing.

Detailed Solution Description

The proposed solution should meet the criteria about color changing, and also respect the deposition process limitation.

The stimulus is a gentle rubbing of water & oil formulation on the surface.

Color change requirements:

  • Starting color of the solution should be brown or beige
    • Base color should be stable for at least 6 months on ambient air storage
  • Change to lighter color or become transparent when in contact with formulation, or with the gentle rubbing
  • Formulation details
    • Water content 55%
    • Oil content 30%
    • Other ingredients (inert)
  • Color change effect should start within seconds after treatmen
    • Best: instant change to max. 10 sec, and full color changed within max. 30 sec
    • Too slow: change initiation takes longer than 30 sec, or full color change takes more than 2 min
  • Solution doesn’t need to be reversible
    • Irreversible chemical reaction will work for targeted application
  • Ingredients/Layers must not be toxic or irritant or be sensitive to human skin
  • Targeted cost per cm2 of printed area Max. 0,01 EUR/cm2

Deposition process requirements:

  • The current deposition or application process used is “screen printing”:
    • A printing technique whereby a mesh is used to transfer ink onto a substrate, except in areas made impermeable to the ink by a blocking stencil. A blade or squeegee is moved across the screen to fill the open mesh apertures with ink, and a reverse stroke then causes the screen to touch the substrate momentarily along a line of contact. This causes the ink to wet the substrate and be pulled out of the mesh apertures as the screen springs back after the blade has passed.
  • Technologies that will not match this current process will have to be industrially scalable

Possible Routes To Investigate

Potential solution can be:
  • An additional layer or combination of different layers
  • An encapsulated pigment that can be dispersed in a usual polymer
  • Reactive ink
  • Encapsulation technologies

Solution that are not of interest

The SpecialChem Client has checked following directions already:

  • Permanganate/sodium sulfite & citric/ascorbic acid:
a. Intermediate formed MnO2 (first layer) is discolored by acid (second layer)
b. But the shelf life time is not long enough due to humidity of the environment
  • Iron oxide & oxalic acid:
c. Discoloration of Iron oxide (first layer) by oxalic acid / oxalate (second layer)

Anticipated Next Steps with Respondents

The SpecialChem Client is first willing to have a non-disclosure agreement signed prior to samples trial. They expect to receive first samples within 2 months after the closure of the promotion.

Other Comments / Important Considerations

The SpecialChem Client is aware that the right technology will likely have to be tailored for their application. As such, they expect to receive proposals from industry professionals, willing to engage on a project mode with them.

Type of Outcome expected

  • Concepts
  • Proven Concepts
  • Ready-to-use solutions

Company Demographics

  • Industry our client is in: Tools for Consumer Goods
  • Annual Revenue: Eur 5+ million
  • Years in Business: 10+ 
  • Headquarters Area: Europe

Business considered

  • Licensing
  • Contractual partnership (R&D, marketing…)
  • Buying