materials feature | Film additives Right: Antistatic food
contact PE film produced using new bio-based additives from Palsgaard
Improved processing Polyfil Corporation said it has developed an economi- cal, high efficiency processing aid concentrate for polyethylene extrusion. According to the company’s market development manager Russ Bradley, PAC-0321LL offers better performance than older established technology products. It can also be used at very low addition levels, with good results said to be obtained by adding 0.25-1.0% of the concentrate, depending on resin and equipment parameters. “PAC-0321LL is particularly suited for extruding films made with low melt index LLDPE, mPE, and HMW HDPE,” said Bradley. “By reducing the apparent viscosity, it permits the use of these high strength resins while lowering extruder torque, back pressure, and melt temperature.” Benefits in terms of product quality are said to include
reduction or elimination of melt fracture, die build-up, gel formation, and interaction with other additives. Improvements are also seen in gloss, clarity, and physical properties of the film, according to Polyfil. Aside from lower costs, economic advantages can be obtained through increased extruder output and lower scrap rates. Polyfil said that PAC-0321LL complies with FDA requirements for food contact applications and will not interfere with ink adhesion, heat seals, or laminations. US-based compounds and concentrates producer
Polymer Dynamix reports growing interest in its additive masterbatches for the polyolefin film market. Marketing director Viggy Mehta highlights the company’s EverGlide MB125 Ultra solution for frictional modification of BOPP films that is said to provide an alternative to both traditional ultra-high molecular weight siloxanes and spherical silicone particles. Based on a new additive technology from Mitsui, a key benefit of the EverGlide system is its ability to control COF while maintaining high clarity, according to the company. EverGlide can also be applied to PE films, where it
is said to deliver a stable COF that does not change over time or with environmental variations. The company said customers report that films using the additive system can be run at faster speeds on FFS (form, fill and seal) lines compared to traditional amide waxes, which it attributes to the high durability of the additive and its “ball bearing-like” performance over
rollers and forming collars. New from Ampacet are master-
batch solutions for various types of ethylene copoly- mers such as EVA and ionomers, which are required in some film applications to enhance film properties including stickiness and shrinkability (EVA) and delamination and peelability (ionomers). “Using such ethylene copolymers in flexible
applications can be challenging in terms of slip and antiblocking as well as antistatic performances when adding conventional polyethylene-based masterbatch- es, as their mode of action is influenced by the polarity of these resins or their properties like stickiness,” the company said.
Tackling blocking Mitsui Plastics describes its Silton antiblock as a standard in Asia for LLDPE film producers requiring good anti-block performance together with high clarity and gloss and low haze. The synthetic zeolite-based additive is said to work well with both migratory and non-migratory slip agents, including erucamide and polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS). Due to its narrow particle size distribution, round particle shape and relatively high bulk density, the additive is easy to feed and disperse. As a result of its high clarity and gloss and low haze,
Silton is currently used predominantly in food, cosmet- ics and medical packaging film applications, according to Mitsui, where it is said to outperform talc, DE (diatomaceous earth) and synthetic silica. The company claims that the Silton antiblock produces 50-60% less
Dowlex 2045, control slip plus talc antiblock Dowlex 2045, 0.15% slip plus 0.2% Silton antiblock Source: Mitsui Plastics
40 FILM & SHEET EXTRUSION | March 2017
Figure 3: Effect of Silton antiblock on 50 micron Dowlex LLDPE blown film optical properties Haze % 12.6 19.4 12.7
Dowlex 2045, no additive package
Clarity % 98.8 84.6 97.1
Gloss 60N 100 70.8 99.2
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