Nano Technology Moving Fast Into Blown Film

New technology to process nano blown films unveiled by Dow at Antec.

Nanolayer extrusion technology is moving at breakneck speed. In blown film, Dow Chemical
Company, Midland, Mich., recently discussed patent-pending technology for producing film
structures with 100+ layers, while BBS Corp., Spartanburg, S.C., continues to advance its
layer-sequence repeater technology for use with its modular disk die.
Dow disclosed its technology in a paper in Boston at SPE’s ANTEC 2011 convention. Dr.
Joseph Dooley, a Fellow at Dow’s Materials and Parts Processing Group, delved into a new
process for producing nanolayer blown film that uses feedblock. In this new configuration, the
nanolayers formed by the feedblock are fed into an encapsulation die that is also receiving
material from another extruder. Then, the structure goes to a single manifold of a multi-
manifold blown film die for final production (see illustration). The blown film manifold
containing the encapsulated nanolayers is a crosshead-style configured with overlapping flow
channels to mitigate the formation of weld lines.
Dr. Dooley reported that initial experiments were conducted with Dow’s LDPE 501 grade in
all of the layers on a 7-in. die. Alternating microlayers were pigmented to allow examination
using optical microscopy. The final 34-layer film structure consisted of 27 alternating
microlayers in the core, plus top and bottom encapsulation layers and five layers from other
die manifolds. Film thickness was 2 mil, and the 27-layer microstructure comprised about 8%
of the core layer.
In another test, Dow ran a combination of LDPE 501 alternating with its Affinity 1140
polyolefin plastomer to construct a 114-layer film consisting of 108 core layers, top and bottom
encapsulation layers, and four additional layers from four die manifolds. Atomic force
microscopy images revealed that the 108 core layers were intact near the die entry and in the
overlap region.
The Dow presentation did not cover how this technology affects film properties, noting that
the purpose of its paper was to demonstrate nanolayer processability with its newly developed
technique. Dow reports that a similar setup has been used to produce blow molded bottles.
Interestingly, this is not the first time that flat extrusion feedblock technology was used to make
nanolayer blown film. In the 1990s, Eric Hatfield at James River Corp. (now part of Atlanta-
based Printpack) developed a melt-flow multiplier for a pilot line in Cincinnati. Hatfield also
designed an 11-layer, 22-in.-diam. blown film die that he described as a “round cast film die.”
The plan, he recalls, “was to use the same multiplier principle on it. The die was designed such
that we ran 17 radically different barrier trials in 12 hr on it.” Hatfield is currently manager of
technology implementation at specialty film processor Clopay Plastic Products, Mason, Ohio.
BBS, meantime, continues to fine-tune its layer-sequence repeater (LSR) technology, reports
company founder Hank Schirmer. The flow dividers are standardized at 25 nanolayers and can
be placed anywhere within the company’s modular disk dies, making what Schirmer describes
as “unthinkable combinations in units of 25 nanolayers.” An example, he states, might be a 75-
nanolayer structure using micro-layers between each of the three 25-nanolayer bundles. BBS
technology is available on full-scale blown film lines from Guangdong Jinming Machinery Co.
Ltd., China.
At SPE’s Polyolefins 2011 Conference this past February, Schirmer reported trial runs of his
LSR that resulted in lower melt temperatures for EVOH when it was in nanolayer form. “This
indicated a more formable crystal structure, and this was demonstrated by stretch-orienting the
tubing containing both nylon 6 and EVOH in nanolayer form,” Shirmer states. “So we think
that other crystalline polymers behave in similar fashion and we are pursuing 0.1-mil
stretch/soft shrink film that contains PP/EVA in 25 alternating nanolayers.”
In what’s believed to be the first commercial application of nanolayer blown film, Sealed Air,
Elmwood Park, N.J., last year introduced the Cyrovac line of shrink films made by its patented
nano process. These films are said to offer better performance than films twice as thick.

Schematic shows line configuration used by Dow to create blown film with 100+ layers. Once
material is fed through the feedblock and flow divider, it goes to an encapsulation die then to
a specially designed manifold within the film die.

Active microlayer system from EDI relies on tooling that first forms a multilayer sandwich of
barrier, adhesive, and active-component materials from three extruders, then multiplies that
layer structure before combining it with two outer or skin layers of material from a fourth
extruder.

Reference:
Jim Callari , Editorial Director, From: Plastics Technology, Issue: June 2011