Trends for Oriented Films

Basically, oriented films are most suitable for meeting the trends in the packaging sector set by politics, society, and the industry. Packaging regulations, compel the industry to give consideration not only to the material and manufacturing costs but also to the disposal costs and in future perhaps to the CO2 footprint. This induces one to use minimum packaging material to achieve maximum protection with packaging. These goals can only be reached with high-strength materials to reduce thickness while meeting the protection and barrier functions, plus operational properties that ensure high-speed packaging. With sophisticated orienting processes (e.g., simultaneous stretching technology), a significant increase of strength and barrier can be attained for all plastics. Furthermore, future potential in terms of packaging can be further developed, for example, by the substitution of aluminum foil with transparent or metallized highbarrier stretched film. Another large potential lies within the integration of many-function layers in the production process of oriented films, so that complex processing steps can be waived. For example, it was proven in pilot line scale that all functions of a complex triplex laminate could be attained by a coextruded stretched film manufactured in one process step. In view of limited crude oil resources, coupled with everincreasing oil prices, plastics manufactured from crude oil bases are also subject to price increases. This, accordingly, gives a boost for alternative materials and thus the possibility of cost-efficient production on an industrial scale. The production of suitable stretchable films for packaging applications from such alternative raw materials is evident in the PLA example. One can predict that much research and development will be performed within this sector in the near future.

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