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Solution 5 of 6

Flexible & Soft-Touch Matting

For elastic systems where the matting agent must not trade away flexibility, feel or abrasion resistance.

Typical working window for this solution — verify against your own gloss standard

Soft-touch coating surface — finger pressing into warm, premium matte finish

Where it applies

  • Elastic rubber coatings
  • Soft-touch and flexible plastic finishes
  • Footwear and sporting goods surfaces

What the solution is built around

For elastic systems where the matting agent must not trade away flexibility, feel or abrasion resistance. The screening logic starts from the coating system rather than from a single matting figure — resin type, target gloss, application method and the specific problem you are seeing all change which grade should lead.

Soft matte. Durable surface.

Recommended grade structure

Each project starts with a lead grade and at least one comparison grade. Running both against your own control in the first round answers more than running one grade twice.

Grades for flexible & soft-touch systems
Grade Role Particle size (µm) Application note
Vista-341S Lead 4.1–4.4 First screen for flexible low-gloss systems.
Vista-331S Support 3.2–3.5 Fine particle route for surface refinement and feel.
Vista-370T Support 7.0–7.3 Deeper matte within flexible systems.
Vista-3851 Reserve 8.5–9.0 Held for demanding low-gloss or surface requirements.
Soft-touch comparison — standard hard matte coating vs Vistacoat Vista-331S soft-touch finish
Standard matte — Hard / Plastic feel Vista-331S — Soft / Warm / Premium

What to measure in the first round

These are the dimensions that decide whether a grade progresses. Test against your own control sample under production-representative conditions wherever possible.

Verification checklist
Dimension What good looks like
Gloss & chalk Natural matte without visible powdering
Tactile feel Soft and fine; no drag
Flex resistance No cracking, whitening or gloss shift after bending
Abrasion No polishing, shedding or surface breakdown
System stability Viscosity, dispersion and settling controlled

Technical support on this solution

  • System review — resin type, target gloss, application method, current issue and incumbent product.
  • Two-sample proposal — a lead grade plus a comparison route, with the reasoning for each.
  • Lab and scale-up — comparison across appearance, process behaviour and storage stability.
  • Troubleshooting — support on haze, drag, thickening, settling and appearance defects.
Before you order samples

Tell us the resin system, the gloss target and standard you measure against, the application method and film build, and what is going wrong today. That turns a sample request into a screening plan with a defined answer.

Screening starts with the system

Resin, target gloss, application method, current problem. We reply with a plan.

Talk to an application specialist
Grade recommendations are a starting point for screening. Final suitability, dosage and performance must be verified in the customer's own resin system, at the target gloss and under actual process conditions.