ADDITIVES | POLYMER FILMS
Right: BASF’s Tinuvin NOR 356 HALS stabiliser
delivers good results in agricultural film exposed to high levels of UV and heat
essential for the retention of a polymer’s physical properties in the initial high temperature processing when films are produced,” says Sebastien Villeneuve, Head of Marketing Europe, Plastics Additives. “They also provide superior resistance to further stresses, for instance thermal or UV light exposure, to which the polymeric materials will be exposed in the end use application. Additives and masterbatches are also tailored to provide additional functions, such as barrier, antistatic and antifogging properties.”
Application matters
When discussing factors driving market demand, Villeneuve adds that there is a need to distinguish between films involving packaging, typically of consumer items and largely dominated by food packaging, and industrial films, such as agricultural films and films used in construction or heavy-duty packaging. For packaging, additives and masterbatches are essentially providing physical and aesthetic property retention in the polymers at the processing stage, while not impairing compliance with stringent food contact requirements, organoleptic properties and management of migrating species, including non-intentionally added substances (NIAS). Hence, the user can claim a visible success with an invisible contribution. For industrial films, while ease of polymer processing for increasing throughput is also essential, the market continues to require resistance to ageing for extended service life expectations. For both food packaging and industrial films,
Villeneuve sees a significant trend to ensure a material’s performance while downgauging the structure and improving raw material utilisation and the product’s overall sustainability profile. This can be achieved by modifying a polymer’s architecture, in conjunction with optimisation of the additives package. “Regulatory and safety elements are also guiding new developments from different angles,” adds Villeneuve. “For example, in films for food packaging applications, LLDPE grades are soon going to be reformulated globally without TNPP (tris nonylphenyl phosphite) after a transition period. Another example is in construction films, where flame retardant solutions are optimised in order to improve ‘escape time’ and smoke density, as well as long-term availability, due to the time and difficulty to get material approvals.” Villeneuve says BASF sees a variety of problem
areas requiring new additive solutions. “An interesting example is the development of
30 COMPOUNDING WORLD | January 2020
solutions for long-lasting greenhouse covers used to cultivate vegetables in the Mediterranean or similar areas with good growing climates,” he says. “Consumers are now demanding healthier food and this is influencing the rapid development of organic farming. However, organic practices are very demanding on the service life of film covers as it changes the type of crop treatments used during cultivation. In order to cope with this, new additives and masterbatches used to protect polyethylene multilayer films have been further developed.” At K2019, for example, BASF introduced Tinuvin NOR 356. This is the latest generation of hindered- amine light stabilisers (HALS) for films and other thin section agricultural plastics exposed to high levels of UV light, heat and contaminants. The company says that Tinuvin NOR 356 is recommended for any PE-based agricultural applications in extensive horticulture exposed to strong UV radiation, heat and agro-chemicals, including sulphur-based compounds and disinfection chemicals. It is based on BASF’s NOR technology — a stabilisation system featuring low chemical interaction.
While long lasting performance is a constant focus for best use of greenhouse cover films, BASF adds that its NORtechnology has also been studied in an agronomic institute to monitor film performance with regards to crop yield and quality. Both were shown to be improved for crops cultivated under films stabilised with the NORtechnology. Future developments in film additives at BASF will include stabilisation of very high viscosity resins, which are particularly challenging during processing on larger scale converting lines.
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IMAGE: BASF
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