28 October 2014
Milliken extends value-adding additive innovations to expanding plastics market at Arabplast 2015
- Millad NX 8000 Clarifier- setting a new standard in clarity and sustainability for thermoformers and injection molders
- Hyperform HPN nucleating agents for PP with shorter cycle times and better performance
- ClearShield UV protection for PET bottle contents
Milliken & Company, will welcome polypropylene (PP) producers, converters and brand owners attending Arabplast 2015 with the promise of innovative ways to enhance the attractiveness of PP for consumer, industrial and medical applications. The innovation is not limited to PP as Milliken will also showcase a solution to protect the contents of PET packaged food, beverage and consumer products.
Milliken's additives can help to improve the value, performance and aesthetics of customers' end-products. For PP, they set a new level in clarity and visual appeal, and enhance overall sustainability. This enables PP producers to process polypropylene materials with shorter cycle times and advanced physical properties, while creating new opportunities for product differentiation in end-use markets.
For the PET segment, Milliken offers a novel technology that allows a new UV protection performance standard for packaged contents.
On demonstration:
Clarifying innovation Millad NX 8000: the new standard in PP transparency
- Thermoforming: Millad NX 8000 clarifier provides excellent clarity in PP, enabling PP to compete with PET, PS and other glass clear materials for sheet and thermoformed applications such as pots , trays, clamshells and containers. Ultra Clear PP provides a lightweight, cost-effective and high-transparency solution for brand owners, as well as benefits such as easy seal, heat resistance, and impact resistance.
- Injection molding: Energy savings and productivity improvements meet high clarity with Millad NX 8000 clarified PP for applications such as houseware containers, caps and closures, and medical applications.
For lightweight bottles with integrated handles and eye-catching designs, Millad NX 8500E clarified PP offers the lowest density and lower weight compared to all alternative extrusion blow molding (EBM) plastics materials and glass, and provides one-material solution cost-efficiency. Millad NX 8500E clarified blow molding PP delivers substantially better bottle aesthetics through improved clarity and gloss, a fresher look and low yellowness index, and an overall enhanced surface finish.
Hyperform HPN nucleating agents: for consistent high quality products and faster processing
- Impact copolymers for bucket packaging: nucleating agent HPN-20E gives improved stiffness/impact balance to PP and eliminates warpage, enabling consistent buckets with excellent stacking performance. HPN-20E also improves cycle times, for PP with improved productivity benefits.
- Deep drawn thermoformed cups: polypropylene nucleated with HPN-600ei additive offers improved aesthetic benefits, stiffness/impact balance and enhanced ovality. Processors also enjoy dramatically improved processing speeds, as well as advanced physical properties and part aesthetics.
"Milliken additives upgrade the physical and optical properties of PP to new standard levels that allow PP producers to improve their product offering while enabling innovative converters and brand owners to differentiate in the marketplace. Arabplast provides an ideal platform for us to explore these possibilities with the region's PP producers, as well as to reach emerging converting and food processing segments investing in new technologies to respond to growing market demand," comments Samir El Khoury, Key Account Manager ME and Europe, Milliken.
UV protection: the new performance standard for PET packaging
In the hot and dry climate of the Middle East, UV solar radiation is a particularly important consideration in the storage of goods. At Arabplast, Milliken will highlight UV protection solutions available to converters and brand owners choosing PET to package food, beverage and consumer products.
- ClearShield Colorless UV Absorbers create a new UV protection (390 nm) performance standard for PET that extends the shelf life of packaged materials and protects brand image for food, beverages and consumer products. Approved for food contact applications by the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA)*, ClearShield UV absorbers also overcome the deficiencies of traditional technologies, including unwanted color, migration, bloom and plate-out.
*All components of ClearShield UV390B have been reviewed by the EFSA and are listed in the Commission Regulation (EU) No 10/2011 for use in food contact plastics. Specific use guidelines can be obtained from a Milliken regulatory representative.
