GRAFE implements modern design ideas for new textures

According to the designers at GRAFE, Blankenhain, textile surface haptics are very much in vogue among plastics processors. At K 2022, visitors to stand A63 in hall 6 will be shown high-quality effect combinations that visually complete this surface trend and thus take product design to a new level. “The season is all about contrasts and diverse design possibilities. Expressive color combinations of particles, flakes, and natural fibers – combined with stylish textures – served our designers as inspiration for visually and haptically high-quality design effects, which our customers increasingly request,” reports Danny Ludwig, Head of Product Management Color & Functional Masterbatches at GRAFE.

“By combining plastic with flakes, nature-based fibers or particles, a visually and haptically high-quality surface is created that refines a suitable texture and, for example, makes subsequent lacquering superfluous,” explains the expert. “It’s not so much about the surface texture, but rather the effect to be achieved is the focus of the optical symbiosis,” Ludwig explains.

As a source of inspiration for the project, GRAFE provides its customers with three variants of polypropylene. Injection-molded sample sheets in dark, as well as light grey with black and white fiber combinations and light grey with white and pink fibers, are available to the designers as inspiration. The effect can be transferred to different polymer types and is therefore not only applicable in PP. Other processing methods are also currently being tested in the GRAFE Design Centre, which means that profile extrusion, in addition to injection molding, can already be confirmed as a further process.

The multitude of possible applications knows no bounds. “From toys and pencils to panels and displays to interior applications in motor homes or automotive exterior parts, numerous areas of application have already been tapped by processors,” says Ludwig. Materials for suitcases or household goods, indoors and outdoors, have been provided with the effective textures. Likewise, applications in the furniture industry are increasingly in demand for this effective combination of look and feel.

At the world’s leading trade fair in Düsseldorf, visitors to the GRAFE stand can expect not only a presentation of this exciting project, but also a competition in which one of the winners will receive a product combination designed in this way as a prize. Be curious!