Milliken showcases step-change additive innovations for Polyolefins at Arabplast 2011

At Arabplast 2011, Milliken will showcase additives for polyolefins (PO) offering pioneering possibilities in optical enhancement, performance improvement, and more cost-effective and sustainable processing, to meet the key challenges and demands of converters in the Middle East.

Milliken specializes in developing and producing additives for plastics. Its additives support the development of differentiated grades of polyolefins that address needs across a wide range of end-applications, including packaging and durable household items.

Key innovations on show at Booth C221 will include Millad® clarifying agents that achieve aesthetic properties never seen before in polypropylene (PP) and energy savings. Also featured will be new opportunities to address the critical problems facing manufacturers involved in many PP and polyethylene (PE) moulding processes through the significant advances in performance, processing and efficiency achievable with Milliken’s Hyperform® HPN nucleating agents.

“The increasing PO production capacity in the Middle East is making the region a critical hub of production globally, plus we are seeing an accelerating trend towards building a wider downstream conversion industry in the Gulf” comments Sami T.K. Palanisami, Market Manager Plastic Additives EMEA, Milliken. “In parallel, the region is heavily exporting to conversion hubs such as China, Turkey and Europe. As a result local and international converters continue to demand improved product performance, particularly in PP rigid packaging.”

Milliken’s latest additive advances on-show at Arabplast 2011 will reflect these trends.

Milliken will highlight the exceptional clarity and considerable energy savings made possible by the addition of Millad NX8000 to PP. Numerous trials carried out by Milliken are proving that the additive not only delivers best-yet clarity for PP but can regularly yield cycle time reductions (and thus increase productivity) of as much as 15%.

No other additive puts clarity and gloss levels on a par with other “glass clear” polymers. The tuneable property of Millad NX8000 in random copolymer enables a wide spectrum of solutions ranging from “Ultimate Clarity” – step change in clarity and gloss in polypropylene (PP) to levels comparable with “glass clear” polymers and glass – up to “Enhanced Quality” - significant improvements in transparency of PP combined with a wider processing window and improved productivity. It is equally applicable in products made by injection moulding, extrusion-blow moulding and injection-blow moulding.

On the energy-saving side, with Millad NX8000, an injection moulder normally processing polypropylene at 240-260°C can drop machine settings down to around 200°C. This ability to process at lower temperatures can cut energy consumption by 15-20% thereby improving bottom line savings to fabricators.

Complementing the ultimate clarity achievable with Millad NX8000, Milliken’s ClearTint polymeric colourants maintain the transparency of polyolefins while producing a brighter colour. As they have no effect on shrinkage, parts have a lower tendency to warp and the excellent processability of PP, and increasingly PE, is maintained.

Milliken will demonstrate new opportunities to fix the critical problems facing manufacturers involved in many PP and PE moulding processes with its Hyperform HPN (High Performance Nucleating) agents.Benefits for typical applications include cycle time reduction and warpage elimination in the production of pallets and crates, and increased processability and optic enhancement in packaging. Hyperform technologies can also enable PP to replace other resins, allowing for lighter weight parts, lower cost, and more consumer friendly products.

Easy to use, Hyperform products disperse well even in high melt flow resins where traditional nucleation technologies may not. In addition, with very fast crystallization performance, Hyperform nucleators allow moulders to over-nucleate pigments for more consistent manufacturing and improved dimensional performance. Hyperform nucleating agents are also used in sheet and profile extrusion , such as pipe applications where they offer improved stiffness and runnability.

Highlights on display at Arabplast 2011 include a pioneering advance for PE with Hyperform HPN-20E. The most efficient nucleation agent available to date for linear low and high density PE, Hyperform HPN-20E has a major impact on cycle time reduction, barrier properties in HDPE blow moulding and film, and clarity improvements in C4 gas phase LLDPE.

Hyperform HPN-20E increases crystallization temperature significantly and has a major influence on crystal orientation. As a result, barrier to oxygen and moisture vapor is increased by as much as 20 to 50% depending on the PE resin technology. The higher crystallization temperature, combined with greater crystal orientation, allows bottles to be demoulded earlier, cycle times reduced and productivity increased.

“Delivering sustainability benefits that are so important to the success of our customers is a key feature in Milliken’s approach to additive innovation for our customers. Both Millad and Hyperform go a long way towards solving processing and performance challenges while creating knock-on cost reductions in areas such as energy use, handling, storage and material use that add to their all-round value. We are looking forward to demonstrating their benefits to Arabplast 2011 visitors,” concludes Sami T. K. Palanisami.