Anti-scratch additives are additives that reduce the visibility of scratching and marring on a moulded plastic surface, and the 3 types are migrating fatty acid amides, silicone (siloxane) additives and polar-grafted functional polymers. The market that drives the family is the unpainted automotive interior, where talc-filled polypropylene and TPO replaced painted parts and inherited the job of surviving keys, rings and fingernails without turning white. Which of the 3 types belongs in a given compound, at what loading, and how is the result measured?
Anti-scratch additives sit in the surface-modifier group of plastic additives, beside antistatic agents, antifog agents, matting agents and light diffusers. The family has an unusual boundary: 2 of its 3 types are borrowed chemistries, because the fatty amides are the same substances the film industry buys as slip agents and the siloxanes are the same polymers the moulding industry buys as release agents and lubricants. What makes them anti-scratch additives is the property they are bought for, which is the appearance of the surface after damage rather than the friction of the surface before it.
This page defines an anti-scratch additive and separates scratch from mar, explains why filled polypropylene whitens, works through the friction and ploughing mechanism, describes the 3 types in order, sets migrating amides against non-migrating siloxane systems, gives the loadings that are established in wt% and ppm, sets out a 7-step selection route, covers the interactions with light stabilizers, antistatic agents and paint, describes the OEM scratch procedures and the colour and gloss methods behind them, states the EU and US regulatory position of each chemistry, names the producers, lists the substance pages and closes below the contextual border with the neighbouring families.
The 3 types differ in whether the active substance stays in the polymer, what property of the surface it changes and what it costs the part elsewhere.
| Type | Stays at the surface by | Property changed | Example substances | Typical dosage | Main limitation |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1. Migrating fatty acid amides | blooming out of the polymer | surface coefficient of friction | erucamide (CAS 112-84-5), oleamide (CAS 301-02-0), behenamide, stearyl erucamide | 0.05 to 0.12 wt% (500 to 1,200 ppm) as a film slip guideline; no moulding range established | the effect is time-dependent and the amide keeps migrating, into packaging, onto tools and out of the part |
| 2. Silicone (siloxane) additives | remaining as a dispersed low-surface-energy phase | surface coefficient of friction, permanently | ultra-high-molecular-weight siloxane masterbatch, polydimethylsiloxane (CAS 63148-62-9) | let-down and active content not established in our sources | paintability, printability and adhesive bonding of the part |
| 3. Polar-grafted functional polymers | being part of the matrix and the filler interface | surface hardness and filler-to-matrix adhesion | maleic anhydride grafted polypropylene (CAS 25722-45-6) and related grafted polyolefins | 0.5 to 2 wt% in glass-filled PP (study range) | it modifies the compound rather than the surface, so it is formulated in, not let down |
The amide loading quoted above is the supplier guideline for polyolefin film. No published dosage range for a moulded anti-scratch compound is established in our sources, so the loading of every route is taken from the data sheet of the chosen grade and confirmed on the compound.
What Is an Anti-Scratch Additive for Plastics?#
An anti-scratch additive is an additive that reduces how visible a scratch or a mar is on a moulded plastic surface, either by lowering the surface coefficient of friction so that a hard point slides instead of ploughing, or by raising surface hardness and filler adhesion so that the deformed track scatters less light. The definition names an appearance property, not a mechanical one. A part with an anti-scratch additive is still scratched by the same load; the difference is that the track is narrower, shallower and closer in colour to the surface around it.
The function carries 4 names in specifications and catalogues: anti-scratch additive, scratch-resistance additive, mar-resistance additive and anti-mar additive. Suppliers sell the function almost exclusively as a concentrate rather than as a neat chemical, which is why the search for it usually ends at an anti-scratch masterbatch rather than at a CAS number. The substance behind the concentrate is one of the 3 types above, and the concentrate also carries the carrier resin and, in most automotive grades, a light stabilizer package.
Scratch and mar: what is the difference?#
A scratch is a single track cut or ploughed into the surface by one hard point, while mar is the dulling of a surface by a large number of shallow tracks that are individually invisible. The distinction matters for the additive choice because the 2 damage modes are produced by different contacts. Keys, rings, buckles and fingernails make scratches at a single contact point under a concentrated load. Cloth, cleaning wipes, cargo and sleeves make mar by sliding a wide, soft, loaded area across the surface repeatedly.
Both modes are reduced by the same first mechanism, lower friction, and only the scratch mode responds strongly to the third, higher surface hardness. Gloss loss is the usual measure of mar, and the lightness difference between damaged and undamaged surface is the usual measure of a scratch.
Why Do Talc-Filled Polypropylene and TPO Parts Show Scratches?#
Talc-filled polypropylene and TPO parts show scratches because an unpainted mineral-filled polyolefin surface deforms plastically under a concentrated load and then scatters light where the deformation has broken the bond between filler particles and matrix. Polypropylene compounds for automotive use are the largest single plastics application of talc, and the United States Geological Survey reports in its Mineral Commodity Summaries 2025 that plastics took 32 % of United States talc sales in 2024 out of a world mine production of 6.9 million tonnes.
Filler loading is what makes the problem acute. Talc is used at 10 to 40 wt% as a filler in polypropylene and at 0.5 to 5 wt% as a nucleating agent, in the range Kandemir reported in 2022, and the high end of the filler range is exactly where instrument panels, door trim, pillar trim and consoles sit. Every platelet at the surface is a site where the matrix can separate under shear, and a separated platelet is a scattering centre that the eye reads as white. The filler function, loading levels and platelet geometry are covered on talc in plastics.
The second driver is a design decision rather than a material one. Unpainted, grained mouldings replaced painted parts in vehicle interiors, which removed the coating that used to take the damage and left the polymer itself as the visible surface. That surface then has to meet the rest of the interior specification at the same time: VDA 278 for volatile organic compounds at 90 °C for 30 minutes, VDA 270 for odour at 80 °C for 2 hours on a 1 to 6 scale, DIN 75201 for fogging, and FMVSS 302 for a horizontal burn rate not exceeding 102 mm/min. An anti-scratch additive that solves the surface and fails VDA 270 has not solved anything.
How Do Anti-Scratch Additives Work? Friction, Ploughing and Whitening#
Anti-scratch additives work through 3 mechanisms: a migrating amide lowers the surface coefficient of friction so a scratching tip glides rather than ploughs, a siloxane phase provides the same low-friction surface permanently, and a grafted functional polymer raises surface hardness and filler adhesion so the ploughed track whitens less. The first 2 mechanisms act on the contact; the third acts on what the contact leaves behind.
Friction governs the shape of the damage. A tip sliding on a high-friction surface transfers its load into tangential shear, digs in and pushes a shoulder of polymer ahead of and beside itself, which is the ploughing regime. The same tip on a lubricated surface carries more of its load normally and slides, so the track it leaves is narrower and its shoulders are lower. Both amide and siloxane types therefore reduce the geometry of the scratch before any optical question arises.
What follows the tip is the optical question. A ploughed track changes the surface in 3 ways that all raise its reflectance: it roughens the surface, it orients and voids the polymer under the track, and it debonds filler particles at the track edges. A grafted polyolefin acts on the third of these by carrying an anhydride group that reacts with hydroxyl groups on the mineral surface while its polypropylene backbone entangles with the matrix, which is the same chemistry that makes it a coupling agent.
Why does a scratch in filled polypropylene turn white?#
A scratch in filled polypropylene turns white because the deformed material along the track scatters light diffusely instead of reflecting it, and the strongest scattering comes from voids opened where mineral particles have separated from the polymer. Whitening is therefore a filler-adhesion phenomenon as much as a hardness phenomenon, and it is the reason 2 compounds of identical hardness give different scratch ratings.
Colour, gloss and grain each change the visibility of the same physical damage. A black or dark-grey interior surface shows the highest contrast between the white track and its surroundings, a matte grained surface hides a narrow track better than a gloss surface, and no quantitative relationship between grain depth and rating is established in our sources.
3 Types of Anti-Scratch Additives for Plastics#
The 3 types of anti-scratch additives are migrating fatty acid amides, silicone (siloxane) additives and polar-grafted functional polymers, ordered here by how widely each is used in unpainted polypropylene interior compounds. Each type is described below with its substances, its identity data, its dosage and the property it costs the part.
1. Migrating fatty acid amides: erucamide, oleamide and behenamide#
Migrating fatty acid amides reduce scratch visibility by blooming out of the polymer to the part surface, where they self-assemble into a lubricating layer that lowers the coefficient of friction between the surface and a hard point. The chemistry is identical to the one the film industry buys as slip additives, and so is the physics: the amide has deliberately limited solubility in the polyolefin, becomes supersaturated as the part cools and diffuses to the surface.
The 4 amides used in this role are erucamide, oleamide, behenamide and stearyl erucamide, and they differ in chain length, melting point and how fast they bloom. Erucamide, CAS 112-84-5, is a C22:1 primary unsaturated amide of 337.6 g/mol melting at 75 to 80 °C, and its longer chain gives slower bloom and higher thermal stability, about 240 °C in supplier data, than the C18:1 oleamide, CAS 301-02-0, 281.5 g/mol, melting at 76 °C. Erucamide is the usual choice in polypropylene for that reason, since injection moulding an interior compound runs far above the temperature at which oleamide starts to volatilise.
Bloom is measurable and the numbers are small. Erucamide forms bilayers about 4 nm thick on a polypropylene fibre surface, in work published in 2020 and indexed at PubMed 32247192, and the surface concentration needed to change a mechanical result is in micrograms per square centimetre: Dulal and colleagues reported in 2017 that 15.7 µg/cm2 of surface erucamide was needed to reduce the application torque of HDPE closures, against 1.7 µg/cm2 for behenamide, a factor of 9.2 in favour of the saturated C22 amide. Behenamide and stearyl erucamide are the slower, more thermally stable members and are chosen where the part sees a long thermal history.
Timing is the characteristic weakness. Ampacet's published slip guidance puts most of the friction reduction at 24 to 48 hours after production and the final value at 7 to 10 days, so a part tested straight off the tool is tested before its additive has finished working.
2. Silicone anti-scratch additives: ultra-high-molecular-weight siloxane masterbatch#
Silicone anti-scratch additives give the part a permanent low-friction surface, because an ultra-high-molecular-weight siloxane stays as a dispersed phase in the polymer and migrates to the interface without ever leaving the part the way a fatty amide does. These products reach the compounder as a masterbatch on a polyolefin carrier, and neither the active content of the concentrate nor its let-down level is established in our sources, so both are read from the grade data sheet. One siloxane loading is fixed in law rather than by a supplier: polyoxyethylene-grafted polydimethylsiloxane is limited to 0.3 wt% of the polymer as an extrusion aid under 21 CFR 177.1520.
The chemistry is a silicone: polydimethylsiloxane, also sold as silicone oil, CAS 63148-62-9, EC 687-578-3, is the reference substance, and its mechanism in every additive role it holds is the same low-surface-energy siloxane film at the interface. Molecular weight is what separates the anti-scratch grades from the release and lubricant grades. Low-viscosity fluids bleed, contaminate tools and destroy any subsequent decoration; ultra-high-molecular-weight grades stay dispersed and deliver surface lubricity over the life of the part.
2 costs come with the type. The first is adhesion: a low-surface-energy surface resists paint, ink, adhesive and welding, so a siloxane anti-scratch additive and a painted or bonded part are in direct conflict. The second is regulatory and concerns the residues rather than the polymer, because the cyclic siloxanes D4, D5 and D6 that occur as impurities in silicone fluids have been on the REACH Candidate List as PBT and vPvB substances since 27 June 2018.
Particulate silicone is a related but separate route. Spherical silicone resin beads, that is methylsilsesquioxane microspheres, CAS 68554-70-1, deliver non-migrating surface lubricity in film skin layers at bead diameters of 1.8 to 10.5 µm, and their use as an anti-scratch additive in thick moulded parts is not established in our sources.
3. Polar-grafted functional polymers and coupling agents#
Polar-grafted functional polymers reduce scratch whitening by bonding the mineral filler to the polypropylene matrix, so that the filler particles along a ploughed track debond less and open fewer light-scattering voids. This type does not modify the surface. It modifies the compound, which is why it is dosed by the compounder at the extruder rather than let down by the moulder.
The reference substance is maleic anhydride grafted polypropylene (PP-g-MAH), CAS 25722-45-6, sold as POLYBOND by SI Group and as FUSABOND P grades by Dow. Its mechanism has 2 halves: the anhydride group reacts with the hydroxyl groups of a mineral filler or fibre, while the polypropylene backbone entangles with the matrix. Studies use 0.5 to 2 wt% in glass-filled polypropylene, and grade data such as POLYBOND 3200 at 0.8 to 1.2 % grafted maleic anhydride set how much functionality each part per hundred delivers. The same substances and the silane route are treated on coupling agents for filled and reinforced plastics.
One property of the graft chemistry limits the dose. Peroxide grafting lowers the molecular weight of polypropylene by beta-scission, so melt flow rate rises with the graft, and a compound that is already at the high-flow end for thin-wall moulding has little room. The quantitative effect of a grafted polyolefin on a scratch rating is not established in our sources, so this type is formulated as an adhesion improver whose scratch benefit is confirmed on the actual compound.
Migrating or Non-Migrating: Which Anti-Scratch Additive to Choose?#
The choice is decided by what happens to the part after moulding: a migrating amide suits an unpainted, undecorated part that is packed loosely, and a non-migrating siloxane suits a part that must hold a coating, a print or a bond, subject to the opposite constraint that siloxane itself harms adhesion. The 2 mechanisms are not interchangeable, and commercial concentrates for interior compounds commonly carry both.
| Criterion | Migrating fatty amides | Silicone (siloxane) systems |
|---|---|---|
| Time to full effect | 24 to 48 h for most of the friction drop, 7 to 10 days for the final value (Ampacet) | present from the first shot, no bloom period |
| Permanence | falls as the amide is wiped, extracted or lost to packaging | stays for the life of the part |
| Effect on paint and print adhesion | reduces it while the bloom layer is present | reduces it permanently |
| Effect on VOC and fogging | amides are low-volatility waxes; no VDA 278 or DIN 75201 value is established in our sources | no value established in our sources |
| Food-contact clearance | erucamide EU FCM 271 and 21 CFR 178.3860; oleamide EU FCM 335 and not in 21 CFR 178.3860 | PDMS EU FCM 575 above 6,800 Da and 100 cSt; PEO-grafted PDMS up to 0.3 wt% under 21 CFR 177.1520 |
| Regulatory watch item | none: no SVHC, Annex XIV or Annex XVII listing for the amides | D4, D5 and D6 residues under REACH Annex XVII entry 70 from 6 June 2026 |
| Typical dosage | film slip guideline 0.05 to 0.12 wt% (500 to 1,200 ppm); moulding range not established in our sources | let-down and active content not established in our sources |
Recycling pushes in the same direction as decoration. A migrating amide leaves the part it was dosed into and reappears at the surface of whatever is moulded from the recyclate, while a dispersed siloxane travels with the polymer and stays in it, so the 2 types load a closed-loop stream differently.
How Much Anti-Scratch Additive Is Needed? Dosage in wt%#
No dosage range for a moulded anti-scratch compound is established in our sources, so the loading is set from the data sheet of the chosen grade and confirmed on the part, and the 4 loadings that are established belong to film slip, to surface concentration, to the grafted polyolefin and to the release-agent overlap. Erucamide and oleamide carry 0.05 to 0.12 wt%, that is 500 to 1,200 ppm, in LDPE and LLDPE film as a supplier guideline, and 500 to 5,000 ppm is the studied range in polypropylene, BOPP and CPP film. A thin section presents a large surface for a small volume of polymer, so a moulded part does not reach the same surface concentration at the same weight percentage as a film does.
The dosage rules that apply to every migrating additive apply here in a sharper form.
- Thicker sections need a higher loading for the same surface concentration, because surface area per unit volume falls as wall thickness rises.
- Antiblock and filler surfaces adsorb the migrating amide and slow its bloom, an effect Ampacet documents for synthetic silica with slip and antistatic agents, and a talc-filled compound presents a very large internal mineral surface.
- Overdosing shows up as bloom on the part, deposits on the tool, loss of paint and print adhesion and, in packaging, transfer to the wrapping.
- Masterbatch let-down is calculated from the active content of the concentrate, not from its pellet weight, so 2 concentrates dosed at the same percentage deliver different quantities of active substance.
| Route | Active substance | Typical addition | Active in the compound | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Amide in polyethylene film (supplier guideline) | erucamide, oleamide | 0.05 to 0.12 wt%, that is 500 to 1,200 ppm | same | most of the friction drop at 24 to 48 h, the final value at 7 to 10 days (Ampacet) |
| Amide in polypropylene film (studied range) | erucamide | 500 to 5,000 ppm | same | preferred over oleamide for its higher melting point and heat resistance |
| Amide at the surface of a closure | erucamide, behenamide | 15.7 µg/cm2 erucamide against 1.7 µg/cm2 behenamide (Dulal 2017) | a surface concentration, not a compound loading | the amount that reduced closure application torque |
| Amide in a moulded compound | erucamide, behenamide | not established in our sources | not established in our sources | dosed at the compounder; the bloom period applies before testing |
| Siloxane masterbatch | ultra-high-MW siloxane | not established in our sources | not established in our sources | permanent; check the decoration steps first |
| Grafted polyolefin | PP-g-MAH | 0.5 to 2 wt% (study range in glass-filled PP) | same | raises MFR through beta-scission |
| Release-agent overlap | oleamide | above 0.5 wt% (Struktol) | same | the level at which an amide acts as a mould release |
Every one of these routes normally arrives as a concentrate, and the let-down arithmetic, carrier compatibility and dispersion rules are set out on additive masterbatch.
How to Select an Anti-Scratch Additive in 7 Steps#
Selection starts from the decoration and compliance constraints of the part, not from the scratch specification, because those constraints eliminate whole types before any performance data is compared. Work through the 7 steps in order.
- Fix the decoration route first. Exclude siloxane types where the part is painted, printed, welded or bonded.
- Read the OEM scratch specification that applies, and record the test number and the lightness-difference limit it sets.
- Check the processing temperature of the part against the thermal stability of the candidate, which rules out oleamide in most polypropylene mouldings.
- Check the filler package, because a talc compound in the 10 to 40 wt% filler range adsorbs migrating amide and needs the filler-adhesion route considered alongside the friction route.
- Check the rest of the interior specification, above all VDA 270 odour and VDA 278 volatiles, before performance screening rather than after it.
- Mould the trial plaques and condition them for at least 7 to 10 days before testing, so that the amide bloom has reached its final value.
- Confirm the final let-down on the production tool, since surface concentration depends on wall thickness, cooling and the grain of the tool.
The polymer-level formulation context for these steps, from the filler and impact-modifier package to the stabilizer system, is on additives for polypropylene. The application-level view of the same part sits on additives for automotive plastics and, for the interior specification in full, on additives for automotive interiors.
How Do Anti-Scratch Additives Interact with Other Additives?#
Anti-scratch additives interact with every other additive that competes for the same surface, and the 3 relationships that decide a formulation are the one with the light stabilizer, the one with the antistatic agent and the one with the mineral filler. All 3 are interactions of transport rather than of chemistry, since the amide has to reach the surface and the other additives are either in its way or already there.
Light stabilizers come first because an interior part needs both functions. Suppliers select hindered amine grades for compatibility with the amide type: Cyasorb UV-3853, CAS 86403-32-9, a monomeric N-H hindered amine that is itself a fatty-acid ester, is described in supplier data as compatible with fatty-amide anti-scratch additives and is used at 0.05 to 0.5 wt% in polypropylene, TPO and thick polyolefin sections. The class mechanism and the full grade range are covered on hindered amine light stabilizers (HALS).
Antistatic agents compete directly. A migrating antistat and a migrating amide both need the same surface and the same diffusion path, and synthetic silica in the compound adsorbs both and retards their migration, in the behaviour Ampacet documents for its antistatic masterbatches. Where both functions are specified, the dosing of each is set on the finished compound rather than added independently.
Fillers and pigments act on the same mechanism from the other side. Talc and other mineral surfaces adsorb the amide, which is a loss to the surface budget, and a dark pigment raises the optical contrast of whatever whitening survives. One published interaction runs the other way and is worth borrowing from the film literature: erucamide combined with silica lowers the coefficient of friction of polypropylene further than either additive alone, because the amide adsorbs onto the antiblock particle and is presented at the surface. The migration and surface-resistivity side of that competing surface function is treated on antistatic agents for plastics.
How Is Scratch Resistance Tested? Stylus Procedures, Crosshatch and Lightness Difference#
Scratch resistance of plastics is assessed by OEM test procedures that draw a loaded stylus across a moulded plaque in a crosshatch or multi-track pattern and then measure the lightness difference ΔL between the scratched and the unscratched surface. These procedures are issued by individual vehicle manufacturers rather than by a standards body, and no procedure number, stylus geometry, load step or pass value is established in our sources, so the applicable test is taken from the customer specification for the part.
The measurement behind every one of these procedures is a colour measurement. ΔL is the difference on the lightness axis of the CIELAB scale, and the colour-difference method itself is ASTM D2244-25, which covers CIELAB along with CMC, CIE94, DIN99o and CIEDE2000. A scratch rating is therefore only as repeatable as the colour geometry and the plaque surface behind it.
| Property measured | Method | Unit | What the additive changes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Scratch visibility | OEM crosshatch and multi-track stylus procedures (procedure numbers not established in our sources) | ΔL on the CIELAB lightness axis | all 3 types |
| Colour difference behind the rating | ASTM D2244-25 | CIELAB units | none directly; it is the measuring method |
| Surface friction | ASTM D1894-24, ISO 8295 | static and kinetic coefficient of friction | types 1 and 2 |
| Gloss and mar | ASTM D523, ISO 2813 | gloss units at 20, 60 and 85 degrees | types 1 and 2, and matting agents |
| Amide content in the compound | ASTM D6042-23 for polypropylene, ASTM D6953-18 for polyethylene | ppm, limit of detection about 2 ppm | type 1, as a process control |
2 practical conditions decide whether a test result means anything. The plaque is conditioned long enough for the bloom to be complete, which is the 7 to 10 days that Ampacet gives for the final friction value, and the plaque is moulded with the grain and the wall thickness of the production part, since both change the surface concentration of a migrating additive. The methods themselves, their parameters and their typical values are collected on scratch resistance testing of plastics, and the friction method that underpins the first 2 types is described on coefficient of friction and blocking of plastic film.
How Are Anti-Scratch Additives Regulated?#
No regulation targets anti-scratch additives as a function, so each of the 3 types carries the regulatory status of its own chemistry, and the 2 files that matter are EU food-contact authorisation and the REACH restrictions on siloxane residues and polymer microparticles. The amides are among the least restricted plastic additives, the siloxanes carry an active restriction on their cyclic impurities, and the grafted polyolefins are polymers exempt from registration.
The food-contact position under Regulation (EU) No 10/2011 is substance by substance. Erucamide is FCM No 271 with no specific migration limit, so the generic 60 mg/kg and the overall migration limit of 10 mg/dm2 apply, and oleamide is FCM No 335 on the same basis. Stearyl erucamide, FCM No 587, and oleyl palmitamide, FCM No 622, each carry a specific migration limit of 5 mg/kg. Polydimethylsiloxane is FCM No 575, authorised for grades above 6,800 Da with a viscosity of at least 100 cSt at 25 °C, and talc is FCM No 615 with no specific limit. The structure of the Union list and the migration rules are explained on EU 10/2011.
The United States position differs between the 2 amides and is a recurring source of error. Erucamide is listed in 21 CFR 178.3860 as a release agent in polymeric resins at good-manufacturing-practice levels, together with oleyl palmitamide, stearyl erucamide and the saturated fatty acid amides. Oleamide is not named in 21 CFR 178.3860; its listings cover adhesives under 21 CFR 175.105 and, under 21 CFR 178.3910, only a surface lubricant for the manufacture of metallic food-contact articles. Polyoxyethylene-grafted polydimethylsiloxane is cleared as an extrusion aid under 21 CFR 177.1520 at up to 0.3 wt% of the polymer.
2 REACH restrictions apply to the silicone route rather than to the function.
- REACH Annex XVII entry 70, as amended by Regulation (EU) 2024/1328, bans D4, D5 and D6 at 0.1 % or more in substances and mixtures after 6 June 2026, with derogations including residues in silicone polymer mixtures for specified uses. The 3 cyclosiloxanes have been on the Candidate List as PBT and vPvB substances since 27 June 2018.
- REACH Annex XVII entry 78, introduced by Regulation (EU) 2023/2055, restricts synthetic polymer microparticles at 0.01 % by weight on a staged timetable from 17 October 2023. Polymeric powder additives, including silicone and PMMA beads and PTFE micropowder, fall under its information duties, which require suppliers to give instructions, the entry 78 statement, the quantity and the generic polymer identity from 17 October 2025, with annual reporting to ECHA by 31 May from 2026.
Neither erucamide nor oleamide is on the Candidate List, on Annex XIV, on Annex XVII or on the Stockholm Convention lists as of 22 September 2026, and neither is classified as a substance of concern; the CLP data published for them are notifier aggregates rather than harmonised classifications. Registration duties for the whole family are set out on REACH and plastic additives. The substance-level declaration duties that apply to automotive interior parts are not established in our sources and are confirmed with the vehicle manufacturer.
Who Makes Anti-Scratch Additives and Masterbatches?#
Anti-scratch additives reach the compounder from 2 kinds of producer: oleochemical companies that make the fatty amides, and masterbatch companies that formulate amide, siloxane and stabilizer into a ready anti-scratch concentrate. Most buyers meet the second kind, because the function is sold as a concentrate under a brand rather than as a substance under a CAS number.
| Producer | Role in this family | Brand line | Substances or products |
|---|---|---|---|
| Croda | fatty amide producer | Crodamide (current owner of the line not established) | erucamide, oleamide, stearyl erucamide |
| Nouryon | fatty amide producer | Armoslip | erucamide (Armoslip E), oleamide (Armoslip CP) |
| PMC Biogenix | fatty amide producer | Kemamide | erucamide, oleamide, behenamide, stearyl erucamide |
| Fine Organics | fatty amide producer | not established in our sources | erucamide, oleamide |
| Avient | masterbatch producer | Cesa additive masterbatches | additive concentrates |
| Ampacet | masterbatch producer | not established for this function | additive concentrates |
| Tosaf | masterbatch producer | additive masterbatch range | additive concentrates |
| SI Group | grafted polyolefin producer | POLYBOND | PP-g-MAH |
| Dow | grafted polyolefin producer | FUSABOND P | PP-g-MAH |
| Momentive | silicone bead producer | Tospearl | silicone resin beads |
No market size, growth rate or price for anti-scratch additives is established in our sources, so this page names producers without ranking them and quotes no value for the segment. Croda and Avient each publish a portfolio page on this site, and the concentrate side of the supply chain is listed under masterbatch manufacturers.
Complete List of Anti-Scratch Substances#
The 10 substances below are the ones used in anti-scratch formulations on this site, with their type, CAS number, main role and EU food-contact status. Each substance is filed under its own additive family, since 2 of the 3 anti-scratch types are borrowed chemistries.
| Substance | Type | CAS | Main role here | EU FCM | Family on this site |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Erucamide | 1 | 112-84-5 | friction reduction in PP and TPO | 271, no SML | slip agents |
| Oleamide | 1 | 301-02-0 | friction reduction, lower thermal limit | 335, no SML | slip agents |
| Behenamide | 1 | 3061-75-4 | slow-bloom, high thermal stability | 458 | slip agents |
| Stearyl erucamide | 1 | 10094-45-8 | controlled bloom, high thermal stability | 587, SML 5 mg/kg | slip agents |
| Oleyl palmitamide | 1 | 16260-09-6 | controlled bloom | 622, SML 5 mg/kg | slip agents |
| Polydimethylsiloxane | 2 | 63148-62-9 | permanent surface lubricity | 575, above 6,800 Da and 100 cSt | lubricants |
| Methylsilsesquioxane microspheres | 2 | 68554-70-1 | particulate, non-migrating lubricity | 730 | antiblock |
| PTFE micropowder | 2 | 9002-84-0 | low-friction solid lubricant | not an Annex I entry; monomer TFE is FCM 281 | flame retardants (anti-drip) |
| PP-g-MAH | 3 | 25722-45-6 | filler adhesion, less whitening | polymer; maleic anhydride is FCM 234 | compatibilizers |
| Talc | filler | 14807-96-6 | the filler whose debonding causes whitening | 615, no SML | fillers |
Every other additive, from antioxidants to pigments, is searchable in the plastic additives database.
Do Anti-Scratch Additives Replace Paint or a Hard Coating?#
Anti-scratch additives do not replace a hard coating; they make an unpainted moulding good enough that a coating is not specified, which is a different claim. A coating adds a harder, thinner layer with its own modulus and its own failure mode, while an additive changes the friction or the filler adhesion of the polymer that is already there. The economic case for the additive is that it is dosed at the compounder for a fraction of a percent of the part cost and needs no second operation.
The boundary also runs the other way. Coating chemistry, including the matting agents and hard coats used in paint, is outside the scope of this reference, which covers additives compounded into plastics. The sections below place the anti-scratch family against the 3 neighbouring families it is most often confused with and answer the questions that follow from its 2 migrating mechanisms.
Anti-scratch additives and matting agents#
Matting agents lower surface gloss and anti-scratch additives lower scratch visibility, and the 2 functions meet because a lower-gloss surface hides a given scratch better than a gloss one. A matting agent works by creating surface micro-roughness, and the one matting chemistry established in our sources are synthetic amorphous silica, CAS 7631-86-9, EU FCM 504, whose precipitated and fumed grades serve as antiblock and as matting agents in the same compounds. No matting-agent dosage range is established in our sources. Micro-roughness is a different mechanism from either friction reduction or filler adhesion, and gloss is measured separately at 20, 60 and 85 degrees under ISO 2813 and ASTM D523.
Interior specifications usually call for both, a low gloss level and a scratch rating, which is why the concentrate that carries an anti-scratch package often carries a gloss package too. The types, dosages and measurement of the second function are on matting agents and gloss modifiers for plastics.
Anti-scratch additives and tribological wear additives#
Tribological additives reduce material loss through sliding wear over long service, while anti-scratch additives reduce the visible damage of a single or occasional contact. The 2 families share substances, since PTFE, silicone and graphite all lower friction, and they diverge in the property specified: a wear additive is specified against a wear rate or a pv limit in a bearing, gear or slide, and an anti-scratch additive against an appearance rating on a visible surface.
The overlap is largest for the silicone type, which serves in both roles at different loadings and molecular weights. The wear-facing chemistries, including PTFE, silicone, molybdenum disulfide and graphite, are treated on tribological additives.
Does an anti-scratch additive lower the coefficient of friction of film?#
A migrating amide lowers the coefficient of friction of film, because it is the same substance the film industry doses as a slip agent, at 500 to 1,200 ppm in polyethylene film against a moulding loading that is not established in our sources. The difference is in what the formulator is buying, a friction value in the film case and an appearance rating in the moulding case, and the film target quoted by suppliers is a coefficient of friction of around 0.2 measured to ASTM D1894-24.
Do anti-scratch additives affect recycling and odour?#
A migrating amide leaves the part it was dosed into and reappears at the surface of anything moulded from the recyclate, while a dispersed siloxane stays with the polymer, so the 2 types load a recycling stream differently. Neither behaviour is a contamination limit, and no recyclate specification for either substance class is established in our sources.
Odour is the sharper constraint in an automotive interior, where VDA 270 grades odour from 1, not perceptible, to 6, intolerable, on a panel of 4 to 6 assessors after 2 hours at 80 °C. No odour grade for an amide-containing compound is established in our sources, so an amide dose set for a scratch rating is checked against the odour grade of the finished part rather than assumed to pass. How additive choice changes the recyclability of a compound is set out on design for recycling.
Are anti-scratch additives cleared for food contact?#
Erucamide, oleamide, polydimethylsiloxane and talc are all authorised additives under Regulation (EU) No 10/2011, so an anti-scratch formulation can be built for food contact, but the clearances differ between the EU and the United States and the difference is largest for oleamide. Erucamide has no specific migration limit in the EU and a good-manufacturing-practice listing in 21 CFR 178.3860; oleamide has no specific limit in the EU and no listing in 21 CFR 178.3860 at all.
Migration is the property this family is built on, which is why its food-contact file is larger than its REACH file. Diffusion behaviour, the models behind a migration estimate and the conditions under which they are accepted as screening are covered on additive migration in plastics.
Is an anti-scratch additive the same as an anti-scuff additive?#
Anti-scuff is a trade term for the same function and is not a separate additive class, since scuffing describes the transfer and dulling that this page treats as mar. The safest form in a specification is the test number and the pass value, for example an OEM crosshatch procedure with a ΔL limit, because the trade terms anti-scratch, anti-mar and anti-scuff are used interchangeably across suppliers.