Topas Advanced Polymers and Polyplastics claim that discrete layers of cyclic olefin copolymer (COC) significantly improve the performance in three- and five-layer packaging film structures made of linear low density polyethylene (LLDPE).
While Topas Advanced Polymers is a maker of COC, Polyplastics is its parent company and also a manufacturer of Acetal (POM) and other engineering thermoplastic solutions.
Their claims on COC come through a study they held through design of experiments (DOE) methods which demonstrated the material to give greater than expected toughness, stiffness, strength and a low haze appearance in LLDPE-based multilayer packaging structures.
Topas Advanced Polymers market development manager Paul Tatarka said: “We found that by splitting COC into at least two layers in five-layer structures, further significant property enhancements are possible without changing COC content.”
The Topas and Polyplastics researchers assessed glass transition temperature, COC modification, and blow-up ratio. This was done to measure how COC influences the performance of various key blown film properties in three-layer structures of 90-micron thickness and five-layer structures of 152-micron thickness.
The researchers observed that the total haze in blown film made of LLDPE was reduced significantly by adding one or more discrete layers of amorphous COC.
The additional layers of COC were also found to have more than doubled secant modulus, which is regarded as a stiffness measure.
Topas revealed that by adding at least one discrete layer of amorphous COC, the blown film’s impact resistance was modestly improved.
The company says that it expects to see more property enhancements by using COC in multilayer films and will continue to assess the material’s potential in future studies.
