New enhanced film resins can extend product shelf life
LyondellBasell has declared its Alathon M6010 and Alathon M5010 products are important additions to its range of materials sold for a variety of applications, including for use in the food packaging industry.
Improved moisture barrier performance
The company said the Alathon M6010 was specifically designed to meet emerging needs in the food packaging markets. The 1 MI homopolymer provides outstanding puncture resistance while also offering excellent moisture barrier (MVTR, WVTR) and oxygen barrier (OTR) performance, said a company statement.
Lab testing has shown that it significantly improves moisture barrier performance for dry food packaging applications such as cereal, snack cracker and cake mix box liners. This resin increases moisture barrier versus benchmark grades by approximately 30 percent without sacrificing properties such as processability, tear and impact, the US-based firm said.
Glenn Cozzone, LyondellBasell’s Manager for North American Product Development said: "It is critical for these film resins to provide protection against moisture and oxygen degradation to preserve freshness over a long shelf life.”
Improved film toughness
The second HDPE resin, Alathon M5010, is a 1 MI copolymer resin that has been designed to provide improved toughness for a variety of film applications, from mono layer to multi layer structures. Film produced with this substance shows increased tear performance of 20 percent while high speed puncture resistance is increased by double this amount, maintained LyondellBasell.
“The improved properties of these two resins will allow converters to design barrier film that provides an improved balance of shelf-life performance and package strength”, said a company spokesman.
He added: "These two new products give converters greater flexibility to design their packaging structures.”