# Colored Sheet: Pigment and Filler Effects

Human page: https://retifist.com/literature-reviews/sheet-pigment-filler-decks

> **Safety.** Colorants and fillers change skin-contact extractables and aging chemistry. Food-contact colorant lists are not wear certificates. Copper and manganese consume antioxidant capacity. Literacy about sheet already purchased, not a mixing card.

## Executive summary

Pre-colored calendered or catalog NR sheeting ships with the mill’s pigment and filler already in the film. The buyer inherits opacity, modulus, and the aging package as sold. Mineral fillers raise stiffness and cut tensile; some polymeric fillers raise tear and permanent set. Pigments can re-introduce metal catalysis.

Use when choosing catalog color, comparing a clear roll to an opaque one, or reading why two “same thickness” blacks feel different. Surface graphics on existing sheet: [Printing and Surface Decoration](/literature-reviews/sheet-printing-surface-decoration). Fit stiffness: [Gauge, Modulus, and Reduction](/literature-reviews/sheet-gauge-modulus-reduction).

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## What the roll already contains

Calendered fashion NR sheet may ship in standard colors. The mill compounded and formed the film.[^1] A catalog black roll already has its opacity; a clear roll is a different compound. Filler load is a common reason an opaque sheet feels boardier.

Pigment type and filler phr are not readable from a color chip. Repeatability is the shipped lot. Formulation detail requires mill TDS.

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## Filler effects in the bought film

**Mineral clay.** DIXIE clay 0 → 50 phr in a CR handbook compound drops tensile **3100 → 1500 psi** while stress at 500% rises **500 → 1100 psi**.[^2] Direction for soft garment sheet: mineral filler buys opacity and cost at the expense of hand and elongation.

**High-styrene SBR polymeric filler.** In an NR film series, 20 phr takes 300% modulus **0.90 → 2.76 MPa**, crescent tear **1156 → 1769 N/cm**, permanent set **6 → 30%**.[^3] Handbook text flags the modulus rise as a serious disadvantage for some latex applications.[^3]

Those figures are plant-film examples of what filler already in a film does to wear feel, not a vendor recipe for a retail roll.

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## Metal impurities

Copper protection, when needed, is budgeted as **2 phr total** antioxidant; coarse or settled dispersions leave uneven protection.[^4] Pigments and fillers can put copper or manganese into the film the mill sold you.[^4]

Cheap bright pigment is an identity risk (metal soap, mineral impurity). Storage of the bought sheet: [Aging, Storage, and Care](/literature-reviews/sheet-aging-storage-and-care).

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## Decision cues

- Buy colored sheet when catalog color is needed now and the mill package (opacity, stiffness, aging) is acceptable.
- Compare lots by hand (stretch scrap to 300%, recover, feel set), not by color name.
- Request polymer family and filler or color TDS when life or sun exposure matters.

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## Endnotes

[^1]: Vanderbilt Latex Handbook — Introduction; dyes and pigments as Class 3 elastomer-phase modifiers; raw film needs compounding (here: mill already did that work).
[^2]: Vanderbilt Latex Handbook — DIXIE clay filler series (CR compound example).
[^3]: Polymer Latices Vol 3 — Application of Latices — §16.6.2; high-styrene SBR polymeric filler in NR (handbook Table 16.12 series).
[^4]: Vanderbilt Latex Handbook — antidegradant chapter; copper protection 2 phr total; coarse dispersion unevenness.

<details>
<summary>Deep dive: High-styrene SBR filler numbers</summary>

NR latex base; high-styrene SBR at 0 / 10 / 15 / 20 phr; vulcanize 15 min at 93°C.[^3]

| phr filler | Modulus 300% (MPa) | Tensile (MPa) | Eb (%) | Tear (N/cm) | Set (%) |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 0 | 0.90 | 28.6 | 880 | 1156 | 6 |
| 10 | 2.07 | 30.0 | 800 | 1489 | 20 |
| 15 | 2.41 | 30.7 | 760 | 1664 | 22 |
| 20 | 2.76 | 26.9 | 730 | 1769 | 30 |

</details>

<details>
<summary>Deep dive: Mineral clay direction</summary>

CR 750 + DIXIE clay 0 / 25 / 50 phr (industrial cure 60 min at 127°C): tensile **3100 / 1800 / 1500 psi**; stress at 500% **500 / 600 / 1100 psi**.[^2] Direction (stiffer, weaker in tension) is the teaching point.

</details>