eading polyolefins additives supplier Milliken will greet K 2013 visitors with a full package of value-adding product innovations and services focused around the industry's priority themes of clarity & aesthetics, productivity improvement, property optimization, and sustainability. Milliken’s additive solutions on-show at K 2013 embrace the performance and productivity requirements of plastics processors, offering outstanding optical and physical properties balanced with productivity increases and energy efficiency for injection molded, blow molded and extruded polyolefin-based applications. They advance low temperature processing and set new benchmarks in the aesthetics and performance of polypropylene (PP) and polyethylene (PE), contribute to new opportunities for inter-material replacement, enable lighter weight parts, and promote more sustainable end-applications based on advanced polyolefins.
“Sustainability is a key driver across Milliken’s portfolio,” comments Allen Jacoby, Business Manager, Plastics Additives Milliken. “Customers using Milliken additives can save material, save energy, save time and save money, all while achieving high quality end products. In addition, the assurance of reliable supply and technical support helps our customers maximize their processes and applications. Processors, designers and brand owners attending K 2013 will get a valuable insight into the exciting possibilities generated by our cutting-edge development, for applications from food storage containers and beverage cups to interior automotive components.”
Products representing these benefits at K 2013 will include: Millad® NX™ 8000 and NX 8500E clarifying agents for PP; Hyperform® HPN 68L, HPN-20E and HPN-600ei nucleating agents for PP; Hyperform HPN-20E nucleating agent for PE; and Hyperform HPR-803i reinforcing agent.
Combining energy savings with excellent transparency: Millad NX 8000 clarifying agent for PP
The rapid conversion of 70% of the clarified polypropylene market to Millad NX 8000, considered to be the clarifier of choice for new transparent PP applications, indicates the high value placed on its ability to deliver productivity improvements of up to 18%, energy savings of up to 13% and 10% reductions in carbon dioxide emissions, in addition to giving a fresher, cleaner look to PP-based applications.
The clarifying innovation finally makes it possible for PP parts to be made with optical properties until now only associated with more glass-like polymers such as polycarbonate, crystal polystyrene, and acrylics. With its lower density, PP provides a solution that is less costly and with a lower carbon footprint—in short, more sustainable. Polystyrene is already being replaced by PP containing Millad NX 8000 for thermoformed food containers and cups for cold drinks, while some coffee blenders are now using new PP grades instead of polycarbonate.
Supporting the general trend towards higher-flow and faster-processing grades of PP, the solubility of Millad NX 8000 in PP is far better than previous generations of clarifying agents. This is especially important in the production of housewares and thin walled products, where processors are constantly searching for productivity improvements.
Over the three years since K 2010, Milliken has been focusing on helping converters to process polypropylenes clarified with Millad NX 8000 at lower temperatures to improve productivity and save energy. It has also been working closely with specifiers to achieve their sustainability targets by replacing materials like polystyrene as well as PET and PC, and it has also been working with resin producers on new developments in high MFR PP injection molding grades.
Millad NX 8500E is a variant of NX 8000 that has been fine-tuned for extrusion-blow molding (EBM) polypropylene applications. Use of Millad NX 8500E can simplify production of multilayer bottles for example, since the same grade of PP can now be used for the outer layer and for the inner layer. The special formulation of Millad NX 8500E helps improve gloss on the inside and outside of bottles. This is an important feature for products such as bottles for shampoos and detergents, where brand owners strive to have their products stand out on the shelves.
ClearTint® polymeric dyes from Milliken are an ideal complement to Millad clarifying agents. Unlike more conventional dyes, they are non-extractable and suitable for food contact applications. Nor do they affect part shrinkage, which can be a problem with pigments often used in polyolefins.
