BASF is celebrating 25 years of providing Paliocrom to the automotive and industrial coatings markets, most recently with a customer event in their Ludwigshafen, Germany headquarters. Paliocrom – now sold under the Colors & Effects brand – was first introduced in 1991 as a high chroma aluminum effect pigment with exceptional hiding power.

“We are proud to mark this occasion with our coatings customers throughout 2016,” said Rose Qin, global business director, pigments for coatings, BASF. “From 1991 to today, we constantly strive to anticipate the future needs of the automotive and industrial coatings market and continue to provide new products to meet those demands.”

The first Paliocrom product, Gold L 2000, was presented to customers in 1991. This innovative offering provided a thin aluminum flake covered by iron oxide in a form that could meet the requirements of the automotive coatings industry. The Paliocrom line of products help with hiding power color saturation and provide excellent appearance in thin coating layers. The Colors & Effects team has continued to expand the color space with products in gold, orange and red. Most recently, the group introduced Paliocrom Sparkling Red L 3505.

“Achieving increased chroma and hiding in very thin automotive coatings without adversely impacting adhesion, appearance or gloss is an ongoing challenge,” said Raimund Schmid, senior manager development, BASF. Schmid was part of the initial BASF development team that first introduced Paliocrom® and he continues to support the introduction of new Colors & Effects’ pigments. “Our customers require ongoing improvements of effect pigments, especially in the red color area where higher chroma, lightness and hiding is needed.”

BASF continues to innovate and invest in the Paliocrom product line. Since 2015, the group has expanded capacity for the production of Paliocrom effect pigments by more than 20 percent in Ludwigshafen, Germany. The approximately €10 million investment continues to enable the company to accommodate for the growing demand of its existing and new aluminum-based effect pigments in the automotive coatings industry.