Robert D. Swain
Chroma Corporation
Inducted 2009
Robert Swain (1929 – 2019) was an expert in pigments and color additives used for plastic materials. He was a 1951 graduate of Lafayette College with a degree in chemical engineering. Swain accepted a position at the Bakelite Division of Union Carbide after graduation. His career was interrupted by the Korean War, where he served in the Army for two years. Following the war, he returned to Union Carbide, then Union Carbide Plastics, formed by the merger of Balelite and Vinylite Divisions, where he worked as a technical sales representative.
Several years later, Swain accepted a sales management position with Exxon Chemical Company. While at Exxon, he developed and patented several polypropylene (PP) formulations that became widely used in the automotive and appliance industries. He also developed talc-reinforced PP grades as replacements for asbestos-reinforced PP.
Swain left Exxon in 1967 to start Chroma Corporation, a pigment and color concentrate supplier focused on customer service and quality. Around this time, the plastics industry shifted towards using highly concentrated masterbatch colorants as the molding industry adopted the reciprocating screw molding machine due to its enhanced ability to “mix” (relative to plunger molding machines). Chroma had developed master batch color concentrates with let-down ratios of 20:1, greatly improving the economics associated with colorant use. Chroma’s business expanded greatly over the years through increased sales and acquisition. Chroma purchased Injecta Color, a liquid color supplier, in 1999, broadening its line of products. Chroma was also the first color compounding company to offer custom-formulated colorants to the pharmaceutical industry.
Swain was active in professional societies and trade organizations, especially the Society of the Plastics Industry (SPI – now PLASTICS). Swain founded SPI’s Color and Additive Compounding Division in 1996, serving as division chair for six years. He was also a director for the Society of Plastics Engineers (SPE) Rotational Molding Division for many years. Robert Swain was inducted into the Plastics Pioneers Association in 1982, where he has held several leadership positions.
Areas of Expertise:
Plastic materials