STEER, a company involved in advanced materials platform technologies, on Tuesday announced a research collaboration with Merck, a science and technology company, to create co-rotating twin screw extruder technology to process special effect pigments.

The research collaboration will focus on accelerating the development of appropriate technology for the plastic industry to effectively process special effect pigments, said Dr. Babu Padmanabhan, Managing Director and Chief Knowledge Officer, STEER.

While STEER will use process knowhow, the technology platform and knowledge of materials transformation, Merck brings to the table its understanding of pigments and their behaviours and core research work in plastics, he added.

STEER labs in India will carry out the research work. STEER and Merck will jointly validate the research work before taking to market the technology platform.