Since the 1950s, China introduced air atomization technology for aluminum powder production from the Soviet Union, built a Northeast light alloy processing plant in Harbin, and then began the research, production and application of aluminum pigments.

In the 1980s, Yingkou Metal Pigment Factory made breakthroughs in the research and production of aluminum pigments, and once held a leading position in the domestic aluminum pigment market. In addition, the research and production of aluminum pigments in Jinan also have a certain scale and level. By 1982, the production capacity of major Chinese manufacturers of aluminum pigments had reached about 7,000 tons, including 3,000 tons of aluminum paste and 4,000 tons of aluminum and silver powder. However, due to performance limitations, these products have only obtained a small number of applications in the fields of industrial coatings, marine coatings, and surface coating of some instruments and equipment, and have not obtained effective practical applications in the fields of advanced decorative coatings, printing inks, and plastic coatings.

 

Since the mid-1990s, under the tide of reform and opening up and the introduction of foreign investment, high-end aluminum pigment products from companies such as Germany Aika, Schlenk, Japan’s Toyo Aluminum, American Star Platinum, British Five Star, Japan’s Asahi Kasei, Japan’s Showa Denko, etc. Began to enter the Chinese market in batches and successfully applied in the high-end field. The aluminum pigments of these companies have different characteristics. For example, the aluminum pigment products of European and American companies such as Germany are more suitable for automotive coatings, while the aluminum pigment products of Japan are more suitable for plastic coatings. In short, the decorative effect of their products has caused a strong market. Attention, which led to the great development of China's aluminum pigment industry.

In the late 1990s, inspired by the effects of the foreign aluminum pigment market, the aluminum pigment technology of Jinan Metal Pigment General Factory "beared and bear fruit" in the local area, which drove the rise of the aluminum pigment industry. Zhangqiu Metal Pigment Co., Ltd., Jinan Yastar Companies such as Chemical Technology Co., Ltd. are all from Zhangqiu, Jinan.

 

Entering the 21st century, with the rapid development of China's coatings industry and the rapid rise of key consumer industries such as automobiles and electronic products, China's aluminum pigment market has obtained unprecedented development opportunities, especially from 2005 to 2014, with an average annual growth rate of 15%. % Above, China's aluminum pigment production enterprises have grown rapidly, their strengths have continued to grow and have broken the monopoly of foreign companies in this field in one fell swoop.

With the development of the market, the quality and stability of domestic aluminum paste products have been continuously improved, which has caused the sales of some well-known manufacturers such as ECKART, SCHLENK, SILBERLINE, TOYO, etc. in the Chinese market to gradually decline, but their high-end products are used in automobiles. Industries such as paint and high-end inks still occupy a high share. To change or completely break this situation, Chinese aluminum and silver paste manufacturers need to settle down and continue to focus on the expansion of production scale, technological improvement and innovation, quality stability, talent introduction and training, and management experience. Start with accumulation and other aspects to improve the core competitiveness and comprehensive strength of the enterprise. According to the latest estimates, the current total output of aluminum pigments in the world is about 100,000 tons, and the main producing areas are in Germany, Japan, the United States and China.

 

---------Sunflower Chemical Group, editor of the news department of the aluminum pigment division.