Patent ID: 8722163

Claim:
A preform prepared from a thermoplastic material comprising: a base polymer having a first melting temperature; and at least one pigment comprising a monomeric or polymeric material compatible with the base polymer and having a melting temperature about 20 to about 50° C. higher than that of the base polymer; wherein the pigment provides at least one of color and shading to the preform and is capable of undergoing transesterification into the base polymer during subsequent processing wherein the pigment is selected from the group consisting of polyethylene terephthalate (PET) fines, PET comonomers, reactants or byproducts of PET polymerization, polyethylene naphthalate (PEN), terephthalic acid (TA), bis(hydroyxethyl) terephthalate (BHET), dimethyl terephthalate (DMT), dimethyl-2,6naphthalenedicarboxylate (NDC), isophthalic acid (IPA) and combinations thereof.