Clarifiers and nucleators | additives
Creating greater clarity in plastics
The focus of clarifier and nucleator
Clarifiers and nucleating agents embrace many of the key sustainability and performance-related challenges for the plastics industry. They can help reduce polymer consumption, enable production processes to run more smoothly (most notably in film extrusion and in blow moulding), and can improve the final properties of finished products in numerous ways. Suppliers of these valuable additives have largely taken a break from bringing new grades to market, but there is plenty going on in applications development. There is a significant trend in the grocery sector to high clarity packaging, according to clarifiers market leader Milliken. Citing data from consumer markets analysis group Mintel, it says more than 60% of consumers have purchased ready-made, prepared food from a retail outlet and around half of grocery store shoppers have eaten prepared foods in the grocery store dining area. Such applications have tended to use PET for its clarity and enhanced shelf appeal; Milliken says its Millad NX 8000 nonitol-based product, intro- duced several years ago, allows polypropylene to rival the transparency of PET packaging. Milliken backs that claim up by quoting a consumer
study carried out by C+R research indicating that more than 80% of consumers will choose fresh prepared meals packaged in a microwaveable thermoformed
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innovation has shifted from chemistry to application development.
Peter Mapleston reviews some of the latest findings
container made with what it terms NX UltraClear PP (polypropylene containing NX 8000) compared to conventional PP containers and non-microwaveable PET containers. The company says there is also a strong and growing
demand for clarified PP resins for the rapidly-growing in-mould-labelling (IML) sector, which is particularly well suited to thin-wall-injection-moulded (TWIM) PP packaging. “Millad NX 8000 is contributing uniquely to this trend by imparting superior clarity, reducing processing temperatures, and enabling the develop- ment of clarified high-melt-flow grades,” the company says. “These clear high-melt-flow PP resins are reducing processing temperatures, saving energy, increasing productivity, and creating further light- weighting opportunities.”
PP clarified using Millad NX 8000 is also delivering
property and performance benefits to converters and users of thermoformed and foldable packaging, Milliken
May 2017 | COMPOUNDING WORLD 51
Main image: Clarified PP not only enhances appearance but also contrib-
utes to energy savings and improved
performance
PHOTO: MILLIKEN
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