Polypropylene Pop Quiz

Ross Wooldridge, sales director, Super Film of America

Design Developments

Q: What developments in polyprop formulations could offer improved surface characteristics?

A: Engineering co-extruded skin polymers by chemistry, formulations and by blends continue to be the most potentially successful routes to improving the surface performance of OPP films so as to improve wetting and increase adhesion. One of the hottest topics in polyolefins is extending the application of metallocene chemistry from the successes in polyethylene to the engineering of polypropylene film resins. The potential toughness of a metallocene PP may increase the overall perceived adhesion by increasing the strength of the base film itself. The biggest challenge with metallocene resins for OPP films is that they must be extruded, stretched and oriented.