- Home
- Companies
- Abbey Color Incorporated
- Products
- Abbey Color - Solvent Dyes for ...
Abbey Color - Solvent Dyes for Industrial Applications
Solvent dyes, produced by Abbey Color, are a category of dyes soluble in organic solvents, and frequently used in various industrial applications. These dyes are ideal for coloring nonpolar materials such as waxes, lubricants and plastics, and are also employed in fields like pyrotechnics, printing inks and automotive lubricants. Solvent dyes are uniquely characterized by their solubility in organic solvents, such as alcohols, oils, ethers, and hydrocarbons, and are available in various colors, including red, yellow, blue, and green. Their versatility makes them suitable for a wide range of uses, particularly in the plastics industry where they are used to color solid materials like acetates, nylon, polyester, and more. Additionally, they play a role in medical diagnostics and scientific research by being incorporated into biological stains. For ongoing innovation and new applications, Abbey Color provides expertise and support in utilizing solvent dyes.
Abbey Color is one of the world’s leading manufacturers and suppliers of solvent dyes (or solvent-based dyes) and we have been for many years. You may see these referred to as “oil based dyes”, as the names are used interchangeably. Same dye, though, we promise!
A solvent dye is a dye which is soluble in organic solvents and is frequently used as a solution in those solvents.
This category of dyes is used to color items such as waxes, lubricants, plastics, and other hydrocarbon-based nonpolar materials. Any dyes used in fuels, for example, would be considered solvent dyes and they are not soluble in water.
Solvent dyes come in red, yellow, blue, and green colors.
A characteristic physical property of a solvent dye, like we said above, is solubility in an organic solvent. Some of the typical solvents are alcohols, ethers, ketones, aliphatic and aromatic hydrocarbons, oils, fats, waxes, and chlorinated hydrocarbons.
Their very nature – soluble in non-polar mediums – allows their versatility and many uses. Solvent dye is used in applications such as foil printing, printing inks, marking pens, ballpoint pens, candles and other waxes, polishes, leathers, wood stains, acrylic resins, varnishes and shellacs. They are used in signaling smoke and in the pyrotechnics industry and are also used to color lubricants in the automotive and industrial cutting industries.
However, the most frequent application of solvent dyes is in the plastics industry. Within the industrial plastics community, solvent-based dyes are used to color a variety of solid materials, such as acetates, nylon, polyester, acrylics, PVC, PMMA, PETP, polystyrene and styrene monomers.
In addition, many solvent dyes are used as components by the biological stain manufacturing community to produce stains that will identify various cell structure components in medical diagnostics and scientific research.
New uses are always being found for solvent and oil soluble dyes, so please contact us today for help with your specific application.