Milliken & Company is an innovation company. Its scientists and engineers have been creating coatings, specialty chemicals, and advanced additives and colourants that transform the way products work, since 1865. Much of its recent work has been to make products more sustainable.
So Milliken will launch a new leading edge nucleator for injection moulding high density polyethylene (HDPE) at Pack Expo International in Chicago in November.
The new polymer additive allows packaging manufacturers to achieve increased levels of productivity and performance and a reduction in material waste. It provides packaging manufacturers with greater options for injection molding HDPE. These include improved cycle times for higher productivity, reduced part warpage and shrinkage, improved pigment levelling and a significant increase in part stiffness and heat resistance. The material also makes it possible to produce parts with thinner walls, which results in lighter-weight packaging than previously possible.
The company will also demonstrate its ultra-clear polypropylene (PP) featuring its Millad NX 8000 clarifier. This is superior to both polyethylene terephthalate (PET) and polystyrene (PS) for thermoformed, blow-moulded and injection-moulded plastic packaging.
Millad NX 8000 additive is Milliken's fourth-generation clarifying agent. It helps create a superior PP product without the limitations of less-functional clear resins. The additive also increases the aesthetics of PP materials, allowing even thicker parts to approach the clarity of glass or amorphous polymers. It can be effectively used in virtually all processing methods, including injection molding, blow molding and thermoforming.
It is the only clarifier in the packaging and plastics industries that can be used to produce ultra-clear PP for thermoformed food packaging applications. Ultra-clear PP with Millad NX 8000 clarifier is clearer, significantly lighter and less expensive than other polymers and supports sustainability efforts through recyclability and energy-efficient processing. Clarified PP is also a lower-density technology than PET, but provides equal stiffness. In applications such as food trays and container bases, it offers enhanced compatibility with the PP films commonly used for sealing.
“Our additives transform the way plastics are made and where they can be used – with lighter weight and more sustainable materials,” stated Cristina Acevedo, global product line manager for Millad, Plastics Additives, Milliken & Company. “Milliken’s advanced additive technologies – such as our new nucleating agent and Millad NX 8000 clarifier – are enabling packaging manufacturers to significantly boost productivity and the quality of their products through increased performance, greater efficiencies and reduced systems costs. These technologies not only allow our customers to gain a first-to-market advantage, but also help to differentiate their products and increase their competitive edge.”
