ARMOR'S BRIGHT IDEA TECHNOLOGY™ -- LEARN ABOUT ARMOR'S USE OF FLUORESCENT TRACING AGENTS AND HOW THEY PROVIDE VISIBLE PROOF (UNDER BLACK LIGHT) THAT IS PRESENT IN ALL ARMOR POLY® PRODUCTS

Vapor-phase corrosion inhibitors (VCI) are used to protect metal parts and components from corrosion during storage, shipping, and processing. VCI master batches or concentrates are typically used to incorporate VCI in poly films, molded plastic, and other packaging materials during the manufacturing process. The VCI that are incorporated into the above mentioned materials often cannot be seen or detected by close inspection. With that in mind, it would be of great benefit to be able to determine if a particular packaging wrap or material contained VCI.

Fluorescent tracing agents work by absorbing light from the ultra violet end of the spectrum (invisible) and in turn giving off light in the visible range, usually toward the blue white range. This "shift" in the frequency of light energy results in the tracing agent showing up as strongly fluorescent under UV illumination. A packaging material, such as ARMOR POLY®, produced with the VCI and fluorescent tracing agent combination would show up as strongly fluorescent under black light illumination.

Pictured above: competitor and ARMOR product in a side by side comparison, at first glance they both look the same.

Under a black light, Bright Idea Technology™ allows for glowingly visible proof that VCI is present in our ARMOR POLY®.

Advantages of incorporating fluorescent brightening agents with volatile corrosion inhibitors as tracing agents:

• End users of the packaging material would have a convenient method to confirm that the packaging article contains VCI.
• VCI concentrates are often supplied to vendors that are contracted to manufacture VCI packaging materials. VCI with a fluorescent tracing agent can be used to assure that the vendor incorporated the VCI concentrate into the materials without having to run expensive analytical tests.
• Many times, volatile corrosion inhibiting packaging materials are sold through distribution where they are stored with numerous similar materials that do not contain VCI. VCI with fluorescent tracing agent will differentiate between the two types of packaging materials.
• It provides a quick and inexpensive quality control check to verify the VCI content. It can readily identify that a packaging material was manufactured with ARMOR’s VCI concentrate. It would aid in problem resolution and root-cause analysis. And, it allows manufacturers, distributors, and end users to differentiate between materials that contain ARMOR’s volatile corrosion inhibitors and those that do not.
  

For information on Armor Protective Packaging®’s full line of corrosion management products, visit the ARMOR website or contact your ARMOR sales representative.