BIAX FILM | MATERIALS
New types of biaxial film such as BOPE could help packaging manufacturers to combine high
performance with easier recyclability – by allowing mono-material solutions
Stretching out: latest in biaxially oriented film
A key trend within packaging – and the plastics industry in general – is increased sustainability. Where once packaging was designed exclusively for performance, this must now be balanced with recyclability. Biaxial film such as BOPP, BOPET and BOPE will become increasingly important in this area – as they often offer mono-material solutions. Delegates at the recent Biax Film conference –
organised by AMI – heard about a variety of such materials and strategies.
MDO and BOPE Owen Lightbody, application development team leader at Nova Chemicals in Canada, told del- egates about recent developments in machine direction oriented (MDO) and bioriented polyethyl- ene (BOPE) films. “Oriented films are building blocks to create mono-material, fully recyclable packaging lami- nates by replacing PET and BOPP,” he said.
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He said that recent market and technology developments are helping MDO and BOPE applications to grow. Early efforts were hampered by factors such as high film waste, extrusion lines being ‘material specific’, and standard PE not being suitable for the tenter frame biaxial process. However, equipment innovations – such as inte- grated MDO lines with advanced control, new equipment for BOPP and BOPE production, and resins that broaden the orientation window – have changed all that.
Many oriented PE film designs can be used to
make packaging that is both high performance and recyclable, he said, citing several examples of designs using the company’s Surpass resins. These included transparent MDO-HD or BOPE-HD film, an MDO-LLDPE film with high puncture resistance and a sealable BOPE-HD film. In general, he said, BOPE is preferred for large packages and liquid packaging, while MDO is
October 2023 | FILM & SHEET EXTRUSION 33
Main image: Nova Chem has developed a number of applications from BOPE film
IMAGE: NOVACHEM
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