Emerald Specialties Group Introduces Masil Ultra SL1000 Slip-Mar Additive

Emerald Specialties Group, a business group of Emerald Performance Materials, has launched new Masil Ultra SL1000, a water-based, zero-VOC additive designed to improve slip and mar resistance in waterborne coatings for food packaging.

The enhanced additive is the first to be introduced as part of the new “Ultra” extension of the company’s well-known line of Masil® silicone additives, a designation indicating premium performance characteristics that have been tailored and optimized for specific end-use needs.

“With the new Masil Ultra platform, we are creating a springboard for unique chemistries we are developing to provide an ideal blend of characteristics for very particular industry needs,” said James Davis, vice president of Emerald Specialties Group. “In food packaging applications, manufacturers must meet strict requirements for indirect food contact and, with rising concerns about the potential migration of materials from packaging to food, careful materials selection has become even more critical. Many of the current slip-mar additives available do not have the extensive FDA clearances that SL1000 does. Plus it has been optimized for easy handling and incorporation, as well as superior slip and mar resistance.”

Masil® Ultra SL1000 is cleared under a wide variety of U.S. FDA 21 CFR citations for indirect food contact, including many that are not typically applicable to other available slip-mar additives, such as 21 CFR 175.300. As a result, manufacturers can safely incorporate the additive into inks and varnishes requiring these approvals with assurance that Masil® Ultra SL1000 will not change the regulatory status of their product. Masil® Ultra SL1000 is also APEO-free and optimized to maintain gloss and prevent haziness.

“Paper packaging products can become compromised by marring and scratches caused by rapid stacking and transporting activities, which are common in flexographic printing and other processes related to food packaging. Masil Ultra SL1000 effectively reduces the coefficient of friction when compared to other leading slip-mar additives on the market today, even at very low levels, making it an excellent solution to protect food packaging,” said Andrew Recker, technical director for Emerald Specialties Group.

Emerald Specialties group will be featuring Masil® Ultra SL1000 at booth 2755 at the American Coatings Show in Indianapolis, April 12 – 14, as well as other products for paint, coatings, graphic arts and adhesives, such as Masil® specialty silicones, FOAM BLAST defoamers and Hilton Davis® color and black dispersions.

In addition to Masil® Ultra SL1000, Emerald Specialties Group provides an extensive line of Masil silicone additives used in applications such as coatings, polishes, inks, varnishes and adhesives, where they improve gloss and shine, water repellency, wetting, leveling and slip, block and scratch resistance, as well as reduce dirt pick-up, corrosion and oxidation. Masil® silicone products are manufactured at Emerald’s ISO-9001 certified operation in Charlotte, N.C.