TBF nano plastic film gives ‘revolutionary’ barrier performance

31 January 2014


Using a ‘revolutionary’ nano-inspired process, Tera-Barrier Films (TBF) in Singapore has developed a new plastic film said to be thinner but as effective as aluminium foil in keeping air and moisture at bay.

The new plastic by Tera-Barrier Films – a spin-off company from Singapore’s Institute of Materials Research and Engineering (IMRE) at the A*STAR, Agency for Science, Technology and Research – has one of the lowest moisture vapour transmission rates (mvtr), preventing air and moisture from penetrating the layer.

According to the company, the stretchable plastic could be an alternative for prolonging shelf-life of pharmaceuticals, food and electronics, bridging the gap between aluminium foil and transparent oxide films.

Thanks to a uniquely encapsulated nanoparticle layer, the plastic has an air and moisture barrier that is “about 10-times better” than the transparent oxide barriers currently being used to package food and medicines.

The University of Tokyo has confirmed TBF’s barrier film performance at 10-6g/ m²/day. The function of the nanoparticles is to plug the defects in the barrier oxide layer, thereby enhancing barrier effectiveness, while at the same time reducing the number of barrier layers needed.

Conventional multilayer barrier plastics have successive layers of barrier plastic films to enhance the impermeability to air and moisture, whereas TBF’s film uses minimal layers as its encapsulated nanoparticles increase the packing density of nanoparticles.

The encapsulated nanoparticles also actively absorb and react with water and oxygen molecules to trap them, thus further lowering the amount of moisture and air passing through the film.

TBF says its new films – at 700nm, said to be thinner than a strand of human hair – will allow see-through packaging and a longer shelf-life for a wide range of products, from high-end electronics to perishable goods, with stretchability an attractive feature in facilitating simple packaging processes.

“The innovation creates a whole new generation of packaging materials that add new and superior functions for use in high value products such as medicine,” says Professor Andy Hor, executive director of A*STAR’s IMRE.

“We are looking forward to seeing it make an impact in the market.”



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