F

ilms produced by blown film lines is Blown film is one the of most Khushboo C. Doshi
an integral constituent of most of the Executive Director
important constituents of
flexible packaging materials produced in Sunil Jain
flexible packaging with its
the world today. The intent of this write-up is President
to touch upon extrusion, in general, and then versatile functions. With the
Rajoo Engineers Limited
focus on the process of blown film, representative increasing availability of property Rajkot
applications, trends, hardware, polymers used, polymers, functional films
process variables and film properties. continue to be developed for
Basic Process specific applications.
Plastics extrusion is a high-volume manufacturing
barrel. The molten polymer is then forced into a
process in which raw plastic is melted and formed
die, which shapes the polymers into a form that
into a continuous profile. Using this process,
hardens during cooling.
items such as films, sheeting, pipe/tubing are
produced. The process starts by feeding plastic Extrusion, in itself, is a vast subject. Blown film
materials (pellets, granules, flakes or powders) extrusion is one of the most significant polymer
from a hopper into the barrel of the extruder. The processing methods. The scope of this write-
material is gradually melted by the mechanical up is limited to extrusion of films by the blown
and frictional energy generated by the rotation film process, which plays a significant role in
of the screws and by heaters arranged along the flexible packaging.

Packaging India  April - May, 2018 7

 Blown Film Extrusion allow the producer to continue with the respiring
Polymer chemistry and molecular structure are / ripening at a controlled rate while inside the
vital in establishing film properties; but bubble package, resulting in a changing mixture of
geometry, resulting from processing conditions, oxygen, carbon dioxide and water vapour. The
is also significant. Molecular orientation and film allows gasses to pass into and out of the
crystalline structure - controlled by bubble package at the correct rate. To make things more
dimensions - affect properties such as tensile challenging, each type of produce has a unique
strength, impact toughness and clarity. respiration rate. The target film properties
include clarity, oxygen transmission rate (OTR),
As a manufacturing process, blown film is water vapour transmission rate (WVTR),
unique, even when compared with other extrusion blocking force and, of course, strength. Different
processes. Molten polymer generally exits the grades of PE with barrier polymers like PA and
die vertically (upwards or downwards), in the EVOH are used.
form of a freely extruded bubble, either reaching
the height of 25 m or more, or downwards (by Collation Shrink Film
quenching in water). These films are used to bundle items together
for packaging and transportation. Food and
Applications beverages, such as bottled water, comprise
Versatile combination of properties that can be some of the largest markets for these films.
achieved with multilayer films make them so With increase in popularity of warehouse type
valuable, even in light of the substantial cost retail stores and bulk grocery stores along with
of the equipment. From dual-colour trash bags reduction in the use of packaging materials
to 11-layer structure of high barrier flexible such as cardboard boxes, collation shrink films
packaging, co-extrusion continues to open new have seen substantial increase in its usage.
markets. While the application spectrum is The film needs to have sufficient strength,
wide, representative examples of applications of high clarity, excellent gloss and specified
coextruded blown film are described here. shrinkage in both, machine and traverse
Breathable Packaging direction. Different grades of PE are used for
this application.
Packaging fresh produce (vegetables, flowers,
fruits etc.) provides an interesting challenge High Barrier Film
for film manufacturers. Clarity is the first Barrier films are those designed specifically to
requirement achieved by several polymer types. keep gasses (such as oxygen and carbon dioxide)
Extended shelf-life is the second requirement, in addition to water vapour from permeating into
which is more challenging. Contrary to barrier or out of a package. These are predominantly
films to increase shelf-life, these products require used in food packaging and in India especially
a breathable package. Modified atmosphere for edible oil packaging, to provide functions
packaging (MAP) involves design of films that such as preventing spillage, extending shelf-life

8 Packaging India  April - May, 2018

or retaining product norms. importantly, the weight of plastic used per
While PA and EVOH pack. The norm today for various lamination
provide the required barrier grade applications is for thickness as low as 15
properties, different grades microns. This does pose a challenge in machine
of PE are used to provide design and processing, but the fact is that it is
body and sealing properties. being achieved.
These films can be used on
their own or are lamination POD Non-barrier Concept (Polyolefin
with polyester, BOPP or Dedicated)
CPP films to enhance the Cost optimisation is always a challenge and need
barrier properties or, at for any brand owner. Increasing competition
times, when reverse printing is required on always puts pressure to optimise the cost so as to
the other substrates. keep packaging cost within a certain limit of the
overall product cost, and hence, brand owners
Lamination Grade Films always search for ways and means to optimise
These are widely used the cost. Conventional three-layer film and high
in producing flexible performance polymer sometimes are not enough
packaging materials for to achieve this objective and hence there is an
packing a wide range of increasing need for more layers where you have Increased
products (potato crisps, more opportunity to play with the formulation focus on the
liquid detergents, snacks, to optimise the cost. Introduction of high environment
cereals etc.). Mostly made performance polymers, new applications and has forced
from different grades of PE, body and quest to optimise the cost are also major driving
brand owners to
heat seal properties are provided. These films factors for shift in the trend from conventional
develop recyclable
are laminated (solvent-less or solvent-based) three-layer to five-layer POD. The polymers
with other barrier films - Polyester, BOPP, used are all from the polyolefin family (LD/ solutions for
CPP, which are reverse printed. LLD/mLLD/HD/PP). The film is designed flexible packaging,
with a thick core layer while the sealant layers and hence, many
Courier Bag Films are thin which impart specific properties to the are working on
With the increasing on-line platforms, films film. The polymers, which impart properties to projects to develop
for courier bags are providing an increasing the film (hot tack, seal strength, co-efficient of mono-material
opportunity for co-extruded blown films. friction etc.), form the thin skin layers. Polymers structures like
Produced by a combination of different grades for skin layers are expensive. Less expensive PE/PE to replace
of PE and with black in polymers are used in the core layers reducing PET/PE laminates.
the inner layer and the overall film cost. However, the advantage of
white in the outer the POD concept can be reaped if the overall
layer, the films film thickness is in excess of 40 microns. In the
provide safe and Indian context, POD concept has not been very
secure conveyance of successful as of now as most of the applications
merchandise sold by the require film thickness below 40 microns with the
online sellers. increasing trend of down gaging.
Trends Barrier Films
Down Gaging Typically, barrier films contain either PA (nylon)
With the advent of new and exotic polymers, or EVOH or both. Edible oil packaging by far
films for various applications are continuously remains the most used application for barrier
being down-gaged (made thinner). For example, films in India. World over, barrier films were
in India, liquid milk packaging is one of the developed for packaging of meat products; but
biggest markets for use of blown film. From India, largely being a vegetarian country, did
70 microns many years ago, nowadays it is not find much usage of barrier films till the time
reduced to around 46 microns. The objective it was developed for edible oil packaging. From
is to reduce cost of packaging, and more a short shelf-life three-layer non-barrier film for

Packaging India  April - May, 2018 9

 edible oil packaging, the industry developed Blown Film Hardware
higher shelf-life five-layer film with nylon that Components of the hardware can be categorised
has further been improved with a seven-layer as follows:
film with reduced thickness. Globally, even NN Extruder
11-layer barrier films are available for technical
applications and high barrier requirement.
NN Breaker plate with melt filter
NN Adaptor
PE/PE Solution Replacing PET/PE
Structures
NN Die head
NN Air ring
Increased focus on the environment has forced
brand owners to develop recyclable solutions for
NN Calibrating basket
flexible packaging, and hence, many are working NN Collapsing frame
on projects to develop mono-material structures NN Nip / Haul-off
like PE/PE to replace PET/PE laminates. NN Film conveying
This new development opens the door for niche NN Winder nip
technology for multilayer blown films with high
machine direction orientation that offers very NN Winder
high clarity and increased stiffness to match NN Instrumentation
properties of PET. Polymer recipe formulations
Blown Film Process Variables
play a critical role in addition to configuring the
blown film specifications accordingly. Blown film processing is characterised by bubble
geometry, molecular structure by orientation
From dual- Polymers for Blown Film and film properties, primarily tensile strength
colour trash and tear strength. Either of the following four
NN PE - LD, LLD, HD, HM, metallocene
bags to 11-layer main process variables (nip speed, screw speed,
PP
structure of high
NN

cooling speed and bubble volume) has an effect

barrier flexible
NN PS
on each of the three main bubble geometric
packaging, NN EVA variables (film thickness, bubble diameter and
co-extrusion NN EVOH frost line height).
continues to open NN PVC When the nip speed is increased, the primary
new markets. NN PVDC effect is for the melt to be stretched more in
NN PA machine direction, making the film thinner. As
NN Additives - anti-block, anti-oxidant, anti-
a result of the film travelling past the cooling air
static, processing aid, slip more quickly, the height of the bubble, where the
temperature has dropped to the point of polymer
NN Colourants
solidification (the frost line), increases. As the
NN Fillers frost line increases, the small diameter stalk
NN Tackifiers (PIB) below the frost line height lengthens and the air
volume in the bubble is displaced more to the
Co-extrusion is the salient process used in
top, because the bubble contains a fixed volume
flexible packaging, wherein a single die is fed
of air. The increase in bubble volume above the
with two or more different melt polymer streams
frost line pushes the bubble outward to a higher
from two or more extruders. Within the die, the
diameter, also contributing to film thinning.
various flow streams are combined to form a
single ply film comprised of the individual layers. An increase in screw speed results in an increase
On account of the high viscosity of polymer in all the three bubble geometry variables. The
melts, the individual layers tend not to mix, but increase in output from the extruder has the
to retain their positions within the combined primary effect of increasing film thickness. Also,
flow stream. In some cases, even 11 layers of a greater amount of material results in a greater
polymer are extruded into a film. For each type amount of heat that must be removed from the
of polymer layer in the final structure, a different film. This takes longer time under constant
extruder is connected to the die. cooling conditions, thus increasing the frost line

10 Packaging India  April - May, 2018

height. Again, as the frost line moves upwards, NN Tear strength (D1004, D1922, D1938)
the bubble diameter increases. The slight NN locking load (D3354) and coefficient of
B
thinning effect due to an increase in bubble friction (D1894)
diameter is far outweighed by the thickness
increase created by greater output.
NN Gel count (D3351 and D3596)
NN Low temperature brittleness (D1790)
Increasing the cooling air speed causes faster
heat removal from the bubble. Since the film NN Hot tack strength (D1790)
reaches solidification temperature sooner, the NN Gloss (D2457)
primary effect is lowering of the frost line height. NN Transparency (D1746)
As a result, the bubble diameter decreases from
the constant internal air volume being distributed
NN Haze (D1003)
over a great distance from the frost line to the NN Density (D1505)
nip rollers. Lower bubble diameter means the NN Melt index (D1238)
film is not much stretched in traverse direction,
the film thickness increases. In Summary
When more air is inserted into the bubble, the Blown film is one the of most important
bubble volume increases; primarily the diameter constituents of flexible packaging with its versatile
increases by stretching more in traverse direction. functions, including providing body to the pack,
The increased traverse direction stretching results sealing properties and also shelf-life of the product
in thinner film. Thinner film cools more quickly, being packed. With the increasing availability of
consequently, lowering the frost line height. property polymers, functional films continue to
be developed for specific applications. Needless
Film Properties
to add, the blown film machinery manufacturers
Following properties relevant to blown film are collaborate with polymer manufacturers and the
(along with the ASTM test methods): processors to meet these challenges.
NN Tensile strength (D882)
NN Elongation (D882) References
1. Wikipedia
NN Dart impact strength (D1709, D3420,

D4272) 2. Blown Film Extrusion - Kirk Cantor

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Packaging India  April - May, 2018 11