Polarfin® additives will transform the performance and cost competitiveness of polyolefin-based materials across a diverse range of market applications. There is potential to add substantial value in the packaging, construction, agriculture and automotive sectors, where our ability to satisfy demand for improved compatibility and surface functionality is opening up a world of new business opportunities.
We are working with customers, suppliers and business partners up and down the supply chain to develop new formulation solutions, both for the unmet needs of today’s markets and the requirements of tomorrow’s innovative applications.
Do you have a polyolefin compatibility problem? If so, we have a Polarfin® solution for you
With Polarfin® additives you can do away with the old, outdated methods of functionalising polyolefin surfaces. You simply add the relevant Polarfin® pellets to your masterbatch, and your compatibility problem is resolved.
Polarfin® additives can be easily incorporated into your existing processes without major changes to equipment.
The result? A substantial commercial opportunity for you in both cost-savings and performance:
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Blown Film
Packaging
Our additives simplify the construction and processing of multi-layer packaging films enabling reduced film thickness and opening up new opportunities for film product innovation.
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Fibres for Composites
Composites
Elimination of additional surface activation processes, means you can increase your line speeds and reliability levels. In turn, you get reduced energy consumption, fewer downtime hours and lower maintenance.
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Sealing Applications
Sealing
Polarfin® surface modifiers and compatibilisers for synthetic rubbers provide improved adhesion to other materials and better performance, with increased long term reliability, in various sealing applications.
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Performance Improvments
Automotive
Our compatibilisers for engineering plastics open the door to a new world of product performance improvements and innovation opportunities in high-value sectors such as aerospace, medical devices and automotive.
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Recycling Industry
Recycling
Instead of polyolefins mixed with other plastics being incinerated or disposed of in a landfill site due to compatibility issues, our multi-functional additives for the recycling industry generate value from materials that would otherwise go to waste.
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Stability and Resistance
Construction
Polarfin® additives also offer polyolefin products greater dimensional stability, high impact protection and improved resistance to alcohol and glycol based chemicals.
Adhesion.
Don't come unstuck. Use Polarfin® additives.
Our Polarfin® additives help eliminate the major limitation associated with polyolefins:
Low surface compatibility
Traditional methods of increasing the surface energy of flat polyolefin surfaces such as chemical etching, corona discharge and plasma treatments require additional energy-intensive processes and costly equipment, but despite these substantial investments, the results are often inconsistent and unreliable. Furthermore, such treatments lose their effect over time, so they must be carried out as soon and close as possible to subsequent processing steps.
For other more complex shapes, the effectiveness of these traditional methods often falls short resulting in quality problems and high rework costs.
To protect the environment and the health and safety of workers worldwide, we have a responsibility to reduce to the use of hazardous chemicals and outdated energy-intensive processes.
With Polarfin® additives, we’ve eliminated the need for chemical, plasma and flame-based treatments
Instead, you simply add the relevant Polarfin® additive to your polymer formulation
Polarfins adhesion benefits summary
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Stronger joints
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Simple additives
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Elimination of pretreatments
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No adhesive layers needed
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New joint opportunities
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Elimination of toxic substances
Polarfins® in the automotive industry.
In the automotive industry, polypropylene is fast becoming the thermoplastic material of choice, displacing more expensive engineering plastics. For bumpers, body panels and even structural parts, polypropylene provides the required mechanical performance but high quality durable paint finishes and coatings are also required.
Polarfin® additives are being developed to help meet these requirements, setting new levels of quality and durability in paint finishes on polypropylene.
Other automotive components, such as interior trims and instrument panels will benefit from adhesion-promoting Polarfin® additives, enabling secure bonding without the need for pre-treatments and or externally applied adhesives.
By providing in-built adhesion, increased joint strength and resilience, Polarfin® additives are opening up new opportunities for component and system design.
Surface Properties
Polarfins®. No more complex surface treatments.
Surface preparation of polyolefins has been a requirement for many successful plastic products, especially where water (humidity, rain, dew) or chemical exposure is involved.
Let’s look at two typical areas where Polarfin® additives solve the problems of fogging and condensation.
Packaging. You can see clearly now.
Transparent plastic film made from extruded polyethylene is the preferred choice in a number of markets, including food packaging.
However, polyethylene-based food packaging is not without problems. Polyethylene is non-polar and generally hydrophobic, which means its surface energy is much lower than that of water. When temperatures fall below the dew point on the inside surface of food packaging film (for example, in a chiller cabinet), condensation occurs and ‘fog’ is formed. This fog is composed of half-spherical water droplets clustered together which reduce visibility – especially true with foodstuffs that already contain a large amount of water, such as fruit and vegetables.
This fogging can lead to premature spoilage of the contents and consumers find it off-putting, reducing sales of the affected products. Attempts at eliminating fogging by adding suitable coatings to packaging film have been quite successful but also add significant cost. Alternatively, anti-fogging additives have been used but these tend to be migratory in nature, and lose their effectiveness over time by being washed off.
Polarfin® anti-fog additives increase the surface energy of polyolefin-based packaging film, causing the individual water droplets to merge into a thin, uniform surface layer. Furthermore, the effect is sustained because Polarfin® additives are not lost from the surface over time.
The results are impressive: no fogging and a clear view of the contents.
Agriculture in a fog? Not with Polarfins®.
The problem of fog isn’t confined to consumer food packaging. In the agriculture sector, transparent film is used extensively to protect crops grown in greenhouses, polytunnels and cloches. Fogging reduces yields both by reducing light transmission and causing crop damage:
- Water droplets on the film gather together and reduce light transmission, inhibiting crop growth and overall plant health.
- Patchy light gives plants irregular and uneven appearance, as well as increasing risk of plant failure.
- Water droplets fall onto crops, suffocating plant roots, affecting aeration and soil temperature.
- Excess water can wash away fertilisers, creating costly wastage and threatening plant growth through the resultant deprivation of nutrients.
Until now, anti-fog solutions for the agriculture sector have had limited effectiveness due to their tendency to be washed off quickly in the service environment.
By providing sustained anti-fog performance over repeated growing cycles, Polarfin® additives will help growers to reduce cost and maximise crop health and yield.
Multiple markets, major breakthrough
Polarfin® additives provide a one-stop shop solution for solving polyolefin compatibility and surface energy problems.
Polarfin® additives are making costly and time-consuming preparation of polyolefin surfaces obsolete.
Polarfins surface properties benefits summary
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Prevents condensation inside packaging
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Modifies water behaviour on external surfaces
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Improves chemical resistance
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Changes hydrodynamic properties on pipe interior surfaces
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Provides clean surfaces for medical equipment
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Promotes long term anti-fouling performance