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Heat shrink tubings – what colours are available?
When it comes to heat shrink colours, many people ask us the same question, “what colours are heat shrink tubing products available in?” The answer is in fact quite complicated as the products are available in a wide range of colours; some standard and some that are specialist or bespoke.
The first thing to know is that that within the electronics industry, standard colours are internationally recognised as follows:
| Standard Colour | Abreviation | Electronics market Colour Code |
| BLACK | BLK | 0 |
| BROWN | BRN | 1 |
| RED | RED | 2 |
| PINK | PNK | 2L |
| ORANGE | ORN | 3 |
| YELLOW | YLW | 4 |
| GREEN/YELLOW STRIPE (EARTH) |
GYS | 45 |
| GREEN | GRN | 5 |
| BLUE | BLU | 6 |
| VIOLET | VLT | 7 |
| GREY | GRY | 8 |
| WHITE | WHT | 9 |
| CLEAR/TRANSPARENT | CLR | X |
The heat shrink colours listed in the table above will differ and are not controlled or standardised using a Pantone / RAL colour chart or similar colour scale, so between manufacturers (or even different batches of the same manufacturers material), it is not uncommon to find slight colour variation. In fact, this should almost be expected.
Colours supplied by one manufacturer in a certain product family or range should always be similar and within a few “shades”, but a different product material type from the same manufacturer, will probably be different. The key reason for this is that each material is made up of a mix of “ingredients” that has been specifically formulated to give the intended properties to the material. Because ingredients differ the ratio of colourant and the base material and property giving additives will differ, hence, the colour will differ. In simple terms, you could use the same amount of food colouring in two different sponge cakes, but if the flour is a different colour, you are likely to get a different shade of sponge at the end.
To view some of our heat shrink products and the available colours, please click here
When it comes to bespoke colours, many applications now call for the heat shrink tubing to be supplied to a specific Pantone or RAL colour (or another industry standard colour code), these are available but usually have to be manufactured specifically to meet the individual requirement. This is generally not a problem but the following considerations must always be made:
- It is likely the MOQ (minimum order quantity) will be greatly increased.
- The price is likely to be much higher than normal.
- A significant lead time is likely to be imposed.
