New resins for tenter frame biaxial orientation

Answering the industry needs of high performance, consumer convenience, and recyclability, Dow is excited to announce an innovative and revolutionary brand extension to the family of INNATE™ Precision Packaging Resins. INNATE™ TF Polyethylene Resins for Tenter Frame Biaxial Orientation are bringing commercial viability to a long-desired packaging goal: tenter frame biaxially oriented polyethylene (TF-BOPE) films.

Compared to traditional polyethylene (PE) films, the TF-BOPE film made with INNATE™ TF Polyethylene Resins for Tenter Frame Biaxial Orientation has higher mechanical properties and material rigidity, better optical and printing performance, and offers considerable sustainability advantages, including the potential for all-PE structures for recyclability.

Many valuable benefits
TF-BOPE films made using INNATE™ TF resins demonstrate many impressive properties valued across the value chain:
•    excellent optical properties such as transparency and glossiness
•    up to 80% less haze compared to traditional PE films                        
•    twice the impact strength and tensile modulus                        
•    three times the puncture resistance and tensile strength of traditional blown PE films
•    excellent flex crack resistance, even under low temperature                          
•    good tearability for convenience-in-use
 

A more sustainable packaging solution
INNATE™ TF Polyethylene Resins for Tenter Frame Biaxial Orientation offer distinctive physical properties which can enable material substitution, film layer elimination, and/or downgauging, to reduce overall packaging materials.

The TF-BOPE film can be used directly as the printed layer of the packaging, allowing a combination of PE functional layers to achieve an all-PE structure, making it more convenient for recycling and increasing the sustainability quotient.

Applications are already on the shelf
Collaborating with a variety of value chain members, such as Guangdong Decro Film New Materials Co., Ltd, CaiHua, NanCheng and KAIDA Group, commercial applications – including all-PE pillow pouches, recyclable SUP packaging, and liquid product SUPs – are now in the marketplace. Applications include rice bags, pet food bags, heavy-duty shipping sacks, liquid detergent pouches, and others. Case studies regarding some of these applications are available for review at www.dow.com/InnateTF.

More is to come through on-going collaboration. Asia Pacific marketing director for Food & Specialty Packaging, Dow Packaging and Specialty Plastics, Kodak Xiao, stated, “As one of the leading materials solutions providers to the packaging industry, Dow hopes to collaborate with key stakeholders across the value chain to promote innovative and sustainable packaging solutions, and promote the healthy and dynamic development of the industry. With its downgauging and recyclability potential, INNATE™ TF resins already offer answers to the plastic waste issue, and we believe more advantages can be found together.”

These successes come after more than a decade of efforts. According to Wu Chang, Asia Pacific director for Technical Services and Development (TS&D), Dow Packaging and Specialty Plastics: "Our Asia-Pacific regional R&D team engaged in intensive research into the future trends of the packaging market. This revolutionary product breaks through the limits of traditional PE products and showcases Dow's futuristic and cutting-edge insights, as well as our strong R&D capacity."

Since the initial release in 2017, Dow’s TF-BOPE resins have earned three prestigious awards: an Edison Awards Gold, an R&D 100 Award, and the Ringier Technology Innovation Award.

Collaborators welcome