Coextrusion is the Future of Blown Film - Here are 3 Reasons Why
Explore the advantages of coextrusion, from improved product performance to reduced costs.
Blown film extruders strive to make high-quality, cost-effective products.
Flexible packaging’s rapid rise may be in part because of how it can fulfill these goals. 41% of all packaging is already flexible, with 57% of shipments purchased by food and beverage.1
And this space only continues to grow 53% of food manufacturers are considering further expanding the amount of flexible packaging they use.
The technology enabling the rise of flexible packaging is coextrusion. Unlike monolayer extrusion, coextrusion lets converters layer multiple types of resins, allowing for more control over the properties of the final product.1
Is this a code red for disclosure and legal? Maybe we should avoid sustainability talk?
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Supply chain challenges continue to affect our industry and the food and beverage market is growing at a rapid pace. Learn how to deal with these changes in our free report.
The benefits of Coextrusion
- Coextrusion can combine material characteristics. With coextrusion, converters can layer different types of resins in one film to impact the structure, enabling more resistant products. Combining different types of LLDPE resin, for example, can increase heat resistance in blown film, while layering HDPE resin improves stiffness. This is why flexible packaging boasts resistance to heat, puncturing, and overall durability while remaining lightweight.
- Coextrusion saves on costs. While there are multiple ways to improve blown film production, multilayer film offers a shortcut to improving performance with the ability to incorporate other materials. Less expensive, lower-grade resins can be used in the bulk layer of blown film products without compromising functionality. Monolayer materials require expensive treatments and additives to compete effectively.
- Coextrusion uses less plastic. Flexible packaging takes less energy to produce, less energy to transport, and uses up to 75% less material to create a container for the same amount of goods1
Shell Polymers can help you stay up-to-date
Keeping up with the industry's evolution can be challenging, but Shell Polymers is ready to help.
- We conducted 1,000 hours of interviews with plastics converters to understand your problems and how we can solve them.
- We have a team of industry experts to offer insights on navigating these changes.
- Our Application Hall has both a 5-layer and 9-layer coextrusion blown film lines, which allows you to test potential innovations for your blown film line without having to shut down production.
Want to learn more about how we can help you keep up with the latest in blown film? Reach out to Shell Polymers and start a conversation with our team today, and sign up for our newsletter to stay updated going forward.
1 https://www.pmmi.org/report/state-industry-2020
2 https://www.grandviewresearch.com/pipeline/flexible-packaging-procurement-intelligence-report
