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ECKART Customer Service

ECKART America

Do you have questions about our products or services? We are happy to help you.

FAQ - We answer your questions

General questions about our webshop

Web Shop

Who is the operator of the ECKART web shop?

The ECKART web shop is operated and managed by ECKART GmbH, Guentersthal 4, 91235 Hartenstein, Germany. Please find our imprint here.

Which products can I purchase from the ECKART web shop?

You can buy aluminum, pearlescent, gold bronze, and PVD pigments from us in powder form, and as dispersions and concentrates. Furthermore, we offer active ingredients and concentrates for aerosol filling, metal pigment paints, zinc pigments as well as finished metallic printing inks. As a customer with an existing business relationship prior to the implementation of the web shop, you will also have access to the so-called "Private Portfolio". Here all products you have purchased from us in the past are listed. If you are interested in products that are not part of the ECKART web shop, please contact us using the contact form.

Who do I contact if I have questions that are not answered in the FAQ?

We would like to be available for you. If you have any questions, ideas or comments, please contact us using our contact form.

Customer Account

Do I have to set up a customer account as a new customer to use the ECKART web shop?

Welcome to the ECKART web shop. As a new customer you need to set up a customer account to purchase our products. At the same time, you will be able to track orders, set up repeat orders, create and manage users as an administrator or order product samples, among many other benefits. Click here to register.

Do I have to create a customer account as an existing customer to use the ECKART web shop?

No. As a customer with an already existing business relationship prior to the implementation of the web shop you will be contacted individually by us. You will automatically receive your access link together with further information on the ECKART web shop. You can use this link to set a password for yourself. You can start immediately and have access to your customer-specific product portfolio ("Private Portfolio").

How can I register?

You can register as a direct customer. After completing your registration, you will receive a confirmation e-mail with the corresponding activation link. Please note that this link is only valid for 48 hours. If you would like to work in a team within a company, the first registered user automatically takes on the administrator role. As administrator you can invite, create and manage further users of your company. Otherwise, simply register with your ECKART customer number. Of course, you can change the administrator later or appoint additional administrators.

You don't know the administrator of your company?

Please contact us using the contact form. Click here to register.

What do I do if I have forgotten my password?

You have lost your password? No problem - just send us your e-mail address on the login page under "Forgot password". You will promptly receive a link to create a new password. Please note that this link is only valid for 48 hours. Passwords are at least 8 characters long, may not contain spaces and must contain one of the following: a number (0-9), a lower-case letter (a-z), an upper-case letter (A-Z) and one of the following special characters (@$%^&+=). The password can be changed in your profile at any time.

Who do I contact if I have registration problems?

If you have any questions regarding registration, please contact us using the contact form. Please describe your request in as much detail as possible in order to receive fast and targeted support.

Can I change the information in my customer account?

Yes, you can change information in your customer account, such as delivery address, access data or payment method, at any time. To do so, simply log in to the ECKART web shop and make the desired changes to your profile. This information will then be verified by our service team and is then available in your customer account. Please note that changes take up to 24 hours to be displayed and used.

How do I delete my customer account?

To have your customer account deleted, please contact our customer service.

What is an admin user?

​​​​​​​As administrator you are the first user of the ECKART web shop within your company. You can invite, create and manage additional users, allocate budgets, set user rights and approve or reject orders from your colleagues. Of course, you also have the option of appointing additional administrators or changing your administrator role at a later date.

Products

Where can I find the relevant technical information about my product?

You can find all important information about your product on the respective product detail page. There you have access to technical and safety data sheets. You can see at a glance for which applications your product is suitable or which product properties the product offers. It is possible to order product samples. Furthermore, you have the possibility to compare products of the same technology based on technical criteria.

Where can I obtain technical data sheets and/or safety data sheets?

Technical data sheets and/or safety data sheets can be found on the detail page of the product you have selected. There you can also download the corresponding documents.

How can I compare products?

​​​​​​​With our comparison function you have the possibility to compare products of the same technology. You can access this functionality directly in the product overview by clicking the "Compare" button or via the product detail page. Compare by application, product characteristics or other requirements - you will get all information clearly arranged at a glance.

What is the difference between a "private portfolio" and the "public portfolio"?

While articles in the "Public Portfolio" are available and visible to all users of the web shop, the "Private Portfolio" is only accessible to you as a customer with an existing business relationship. Here you will find your products that you have already purchased from ECKART. Of course, the "Private Portfolio" also contains all the individual conditions you have already negotiated and provides you with additional information such as invoices, order confirmations and delivery notes for each order as a download.

Order

How do I order in the ECKART web shop?

You can order in the ECKART web shop by placing the selected items in your shopping cart and proceeding to checkout. If you work as part of a team within your company and are not an administrator, please follow your internally defined approval processes. Administrators have the right to manage users, allocate budgets and approve or reject team orders. Please also note our General Terms of Sale and Delivery.

Is it possible to subsequently change or cancel orders?

If you have not yet completed and paid for your order, you can always remove an item from the shopping cart, adjust quantities or cancel the order. In principle, however, it is not possible to change or cancel orders after the order has been completed. If you still wish to cancel or make changes, please contact our customer service. We will provide you with the best possible support.

How do I order product samples?

The ordering of product samples is only possible for registered users. You can see whether product samples are available for the product you have selected on the product details page. Click on the button "Order sample". You will receive a corresponding confirmation message and we will check your request.

How do I deal with complaints?

We are sorry that you are not satisfied. For complaints, please contact us via the contact form, stating your order number and the request, or contact our customer service.

Can I return items from my order?

Unfortunately, it is not possible to arrange a return via the web shop. If you still wish to return an item, please contact us using the contact form, quoting your order number. We will be happy to help you. Please note that the containers must be unopened.

Can I view an order history to see what has been ordered in the past?

Yes, you can access the order history via your customer account. Here you can see all orders of the last 12 months. This also includes orders that were not ordered via the ECKART web shop but by phone or e-mail. You can use the order history to add past orders to your shopping cart and order again.

Delivery

Which delivery types are available?

The delivery of your goods is carried out by our appointed service providers. Please understand that it is not possible to collect the goods by yourself. You can find further information in our General Terms of Sale and Supply or here in the FAQ.

How long does it take for my order to be delivered?

If an item is not in stock or your order exceeds the available quantity, you will be informed about the estimated delivery time as well. If there are several items in your shopping cart with different delivery times, the longest delivery time always applies (no partial deliveries). Products from the "Private Portfolio", which are only manufactured once a specific customer order has been placed, will be delivered to existing customers at the usual conditions. Please note that deliveries for orders from the web shop are currently only possible within Germany. If you are not the administrator of your company, please follow your internally defined release processes. These may delay the delivery time. Please find our general terms and conditions here.

What are the costs of delivery?

Delivery costs are not included in the displayed product price. In our standard delivery, the delivery costs for freight are included. If a standard delivery is not enough for your order, you will be notified by our customer service. You will receive products from the "Private Portfolio" at the usual conditions.

Can I have selected items from an order delivered to different addresses?

No. Items from the ECKART web shop can only be sent to one delivery address per order. If you want to send items to different delivery addresses, please place separate orders.

Can I have my order delivered to an address outside of Germany?

No. For orders placed in the web shop, only deliveries within Germany are possible at present. If your company or the branch to be supplied is not located in Germany, please contact us using the contact form. We will be happy to help you.

What do I do if I do not receive my delivery, or if it is delayed or incomplete?

If, contrary to expectations, something is wrong with your delivery, please contact us using the contact form. We will take care of your request as soon as possible.

Payment

Which payment options do I have?

​​​​​​​In the ECKART web shop you can pay by invoice.

Data Protection

How can I manage cookies?

You can adjust your cookie settings the first time you visit our website. Afterwards, you have the option of re-accessing the settings at any time by clicking on the blue icon (fingerprint) located in the lower right-hand corner and allowing or excluding cookies. When the Privacy Manager opens, click on "Privacy Settings" and enable or disable cookies. Then simply click on "Accept all" to accept the settings.

Who do I contact if I have questions about data protection?

The contact details of our data protection officer are as follows:
Dr. Lutz-Steffen Berghold
Guentersthal 4
D-91235 Hartenstein
E-mail: Datenschutz.ECKART@altana.com

Technical questions about our products

Why can a separation of the solvent in aluminum pigment pastes occur even if I have just opened the drum?

Solvent separation of aluminum pastes is no quality problem, there can be two reasons: A real settling of the aluminum pigments or a condensation of the solvent (or a combination of both).

The absorption of the solvent from the pigment depends directly on the surface area of the pigment. Coarse pigments have a smaller surface than fine ones; silverdollars have a smaller and smoother surface than cornflakes in the same fineness. This means, coarse silverdollars are potentially the product most affected from this issue.

If the pigment is stored or transported with big differences in temperature - very hot during the day, cool in the night – the solvent is evaporated and condensates at the lid, from where it is dropping back to the pigment in the drum.
Vibrations during transport (up to heavy shaking on the truck depending on the road conditions) force a kind of settling. That does not result in a solvent separation in every case, but it makes the paste compact and equalizes the surface of the paste. The condensate solvent drops back to this even surface creating little lakes or, if the amount is higher, a solvent layer is created.

With plastic liners the paste sweats even more and in addition the solvent cannot drop back into the paste, so the "separation", which is just a function of the temperature, is more intensive. As long as the complete content of the drum is used in one, no loss of quality will occur. If not the whole drum content is needed at the same time, a customer-specific solution is recommended. In this case, please contact our technical Service.

A coating containing gold bronze pigments gels! Why?

Gold bronze pigments consist of copper or copper/zinc alloys (brass). If the binders or additives used in the coating contain acids, copper ions may be flushed out, and this can lead to the gelling effect mentioned. This problem can be avoided by using only coating components with a very low acid index (guide value: acid index < 10 mg KOH/g). Encapsulated gold bronze pigments, which are sold under the name STANDART® gold bronze powder RESIST are much more resistant to gelling.

Gold bronze coatings become discolored! Why?

Gold bronze pigments are highly temperature-sensitive. The color changes at a temperature as low as approx. 80°C. "Normal" gold bronze pigments can thus only be used in air-drying coatings that are not subsequently exposed to high temperatures (e.g. decorative effects). A considerable improvement in color stability is achieved by using encapsulated gold bronze pigments that are sold under the name STANDART® Gold bronze Powder RESIST.

Are there any gold bronze pigments for aqueous systems?

Gold bronze pigments for aqueous systems are available under the product name, ROTOVARIO Aqua and SHINEDECOR. These are pigment concentrates that, in addition to the gold bronze pigments, contain mainly water, together with small quantities of anti-settling agents and additives.

When using aluminum pigments in aqueous coating systems, gas is often formed! How can this be avoided?

There are three possible causes for the formation of gas in aqueous metallic coatings. These three causes are as follows:

  • High shearing forces were applied when dispersing the aluminum pigments into the coating system; these damage the aluminum pigments. This means there are unprotected aluminum surfaces, which lead to the formation of gas. Usual conditions for dispersing aluminum pigments are to produce a pigment slurry consisting of the aluminum pigment, as well as a suitable solvent and possibly a dispersing additive. These components are then stirred carefully for approximately 20 minutes at shearing rates of 500 - 1000 rpm. Subsequent storage at room temperature can also be helpful.

  • As an amphoteric metal, aluminum reacts both in the acidic and alkaline range, it is therefore important that, when formulating the coating, the pH value is in the 7 - 8 range. On request, we are pleased to recommend you a neutralizing agent.

  • Despite all the described measures, as a result of the coating components used, the stabilization methods applied to the aluminum may still be insufficient to prevent the formation of gas. In this case, a more stabilized aluminum pigment has to be used. In such cases, chrome-encapsulated qualities (STAPA® HYDROLUX), as well as chrome-free encapsulation in the form of a silicate coating with subsequent additive treatment (STAPA® HYDROLAN®), have proven successful.

How is it possible to prove poor resistance to condensation in aqueous coatings?

Due to the poor wetting behavior of water, wetting agents are often used when dispersing aluminum pigments in aqueous coating systems. These leads to varying degrees, to a deterioration in the humidity resistance. Exchanging certain surfactants for others can result in a considerable improvement. Additives are used with some stabilized aluminum pigments in order to suppress the development of gas. These additives also lead to a reduction in the resistance to condensation. In such cases, the use of either encapsulated aluminum pigments (STAPA® HYDROLUX, STAPA® HYDROLAN®) or aluminum pigments stabilized with a smaller amount of additives is recommended.

Can oxidized aluminum pigments (STAPA© ALOXAL) also be used in aqueous coating systems?

The STAPA© ALOXAL types are oxidized aluminum pigments. This oxide layer works indeed in one way as an inhibitor, but the pigments are not additionally stabilized. In the most less aggressive paint formulations, the oxide layer is sufficient to get an acceptable gassing stability, in a few more aggressive formulations it is not. The gassing stability has to be tested in the customers own binder system.

What are the ideal storage conditions for metallic pigment pastes?

Ideal storage conditions for aluminum pigments are in the original closed drum at a room temperature of 25°C. As a rule, if aluminum pastes that are usually manufactured as pastes are stored incorrectly, the solvent can evaporate. This then leads to changed optical effects or to an agglomeration of the flakes. If the drum is opened, it should be carefully closed after use. It has also proved best to use all the contents of a drum at once. In the case of drums containing aluminum paste residues, increased agglomeration or solvent evaporation has been observed.

What are the usual storage stabilities for aluminum pigment pastes?

Please find detailed information about storage stabilities of our products and product groups on relating technical data sheets.

When using leafing aluminum pigments, I only achieve poor leafing/flotation properties, or the flotation of the aluminum pigments rapidly deteriorates significantly. Why?

When using leafing aluminum pigments, non-polar solvents and binders should always be used (e.g. white spirit, solvent naphtha, toluene, xylene or hydrocarbon resins). All binders used should have as low as possible an acidic value (guide value: acid index < 10 mg KOH/g). and should not contain any functional groups. Any moisture in drums or in solvents should be avoided; this is particularly important during production.

White or yellow flakes have formed on my leafing paste in the drum. Why?

If not stored under optimum conditions or because of temperature oscillation during transport, lubricant from the manufacturing process may collect on the surface of the paste and subsequently "crystallize" at lower temperatures. In this case, the best thing to do is to use the complete drum.

What is the recommended degree of pigmentation in aluminum pigments?

In general, the pigmentation rate is between 5% and 15% aluminum acc. to the complete formulation. However, this depends greatly on the particle size distribution of the product, on the coating parameters and the requested effect. The coarser the product, the greater the pigmentation required in order, for example, to achieve the desired coverage at the same layer thickness.

Can aluminum pigments be blended into aqueous coatings?

Yes, however, in this case, special products have to be used that have been especially stabilized for this purpose, such as STAPA® HYDROXAL E or STAPA® HYDROMIC. Non-stabilized aluminum reacts with water to generate hydrogen according to the following reaction equation:

2 Al + 6 H2O ^ 2 Al(OH)3 + 3H2

This reaction can leads to a build-up of pressure in the drum and to the loss / deterioration of the optical properties.

Why is it so difficult to blend my aluminum paste/aluminum powder?

In both cases we recommend pre-dispersing the pigments in a suitable solvent. With pastes, a weight ratio of 1:1 (paste to solvent) is recommended and, with powders, a weight ratio of approx. 1:2 (powder to solvent). In addition, it should be noted that aluminum pastes / aluminum powders have a limited shelf life. If the product is well past the expiry date, or if the drum has been stored incorrectly, this may lead to agglomeration, which causes the poor dispersion properties.

My pigmented coating containing aluminum pigments appears grey. What could be the cause of this?

There are two possible explanations for this effect:

The choice of pigments may be unsuitable for the required use, i.e. the selected type has too high a proportion of fine particles.

The fine particles in the aluminum pigment are created as a result of high shear forces during dispersion (pearl mill). In order to prevent this effect, high shear forces should be avoided in general

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