Uflex, a flexible packaging materials company in India, has launched a super barrier polyester film, FLEXPET F-PGB-12.
This 12 micron biaxially oriented polyethylene terephthalate (BOPET) film owing to a specially modified surface treatment (on one side) offers very high barrier against oxygen. The other side of the film can be corona treated or left untreated as per requirements.
The Oxygen Transmission Rate (OTR) of this film is <6cm3/m2/day at 23°C & 0% RH. A big advantage with this film is the fact that it does not require any coating or co-extrusion of polyvinylidene chloride (PVDC) or ethylene vinyl alcohol (EVOH) for enhancing barrier properties.
An untreated BOPET normal film of 12 micron has OTR as high as 135cm3/m2/day; thereby offering much weaker barrier to oxygen. In addition, a normal film quite essentially requires inline or offline PVDC/EVOH coating for enhancing the barrier properties.
FLEXPETTM F-PGB-12 films offers good flexibility, high optical properties/transparency, strong machinability and handling properties owing to high tensile strength at break, said the company.
J.K. Sharma, AGM, Technical Service and New Product Development (Films) talking about the USPs of FLEXPETTM F-PGB-12 said, “This film offers a clear cost advantage to the convertors over other PVDC/EVOH coated/ co-extruded films and is widely used in the packaging for pet foods; roasted coffee and other oxygen & barrier sensitive food products. There is a huge demand for this cost effective specialty BOPET film and we are getting good number of business enquiries.”
Pramod Sirsamkar, President of Technical & New Product Development (Films), Uflex Limited, gives more details about the new product.
“In a typical two ply laminate our latest film can serve as a superior oxygen barrier while the sealant layer can act as a great barrier to moisture. This is the simplest cross section that one can think of keeping the converting costs to a bare minimum without compromising upon the performance of the laminate. The F-PGB film complies with EU regulation and US FDA for food contact application.”
Uflex is manufacturing FLEXPETTM F-PGB-12 films at all of its facilities, including India, United Arab Emirates (UAE), Poland, Egypt, Mexico and the US.
