While many new parts designed to be manufactured from engineering plastics can bypass or reduce the number of secondary processing steps, some parts still require operations such as painting and printing. We provide our customers with recommendations for the specific grade under consideration to ensure a reliable and effective end product.

While many parts can be molded directly in the desired color, painting and coating are still used for a number of reasons, including:

• Aesthetics (to hide irregularities in the substrate or color-match with adjacent parts)
• Improved chemical, abrasion of UV resistance
• Electrical conductivity
• Electromagnetic shielding
• Versatility of styling
• Manufacturing convenience

Since some paints can affect the brittleness of some plastics, we provide our customers with a full set of recommendations for painting, depending on the material selected, and the design of the part.

Parts made from our engineering plastics can be printed to provide a decorative pattern, logo or lettering. Since some inks on ductile plastics can result in brittleness during impact loading, we provide a full set of recommendations depending on the material and printing technique used.

Ask us how we can help ensure the best possible result for secondary operations like printing and painting.