Italian company Industria Termoplastica Pavese Spa (ITP), which specializes in the production of polyolefin films for packaging, has developed a new co-extruded film, the SG serie for frozen food, which is versatile and high performance in terms of impact and tear resistance.
ITP has taken the opportunity offered by Dow Chemical Company (DOW) of making use of their new resin - Innate™, which came from a breakthrough patented molecular catalyst coupled with advanced process technology that allows accurate and consistent control of the resin chemistry.
The combination of this innovative resin, with other high quality products, from the experience of ITP’s Technical and Scientific Committee, has enabled ITP to create an innovative, versatile and high performance co-extrusion film featuring a surprising combination of stiffness, toughness and sealing strength.Winning packaging for frozen packaging
"Our experience in the field," says Simonetta Lanati, Research & Development Manager at ITP, "teaches us that the toughness, puncture resistance and tear resistance of the film are essential key factors for the packaging of frozen products, given the increasingly frantic pace at which packaging productive lines work. This means the packaging film cannot afford any weakness in its structure.
Packaging systems producing up to 80 bags per minute are widely widespread and with these speeds, the film should not only ensure smoothness and processability, but it must support fillings with sharp edged frozen products with no risk of piercing or tearing.
It should also be noted that the mechanical performances required for a film that is used and processed at a temperature of -20 ° C for a long time should be far superior to those of a traditional film for packaging of products stored at 4 ° C or ambient temperature, as the low temperatures of a refrigeration cell can weakness the film in a dangerous way. "
Ease of processability with excellent bubble stability of Innate™, together with excellent blend capabilities, and high technological level of ITP extruder machinery allowed incredible downguaging, up to thicknesses unconventional for the frozen food market: “the achieved puncture resistance”- continues Simonetta Lanati - “can be translated in a depth of perforation of almost 2cm before breaking a film of 40µm with a sharp dart of 4mm diameter. This result makes the film interesting even in duplex or triplex laminated applications where normally the tear resistance is strongly compromised by the presence of bi-oriented films. "
Such a solution can also be used in other challenging applications, such as packaging for liquids, even in stand-up pouches or bag-in-boxes, and in all cases it offers greater safeguards for product retention, less waste and returns on merchandise for packaging damage, which turns out to be a greater reliability for the packer.Moreover, the reduction in thickness allows a lighter packaging – which is a value of tangible sustainability - without sacrificing the high performances in durability and abuse resistance of this innovative solution.
Collaboration with Dow"It's very important for ITP to be able to count on a partner who shares our goals and interests," says Massimo Centonze, CEO at ITP. "Dow, compared to other suppliers, has a wide range of products, meeting always our needs. We share with Dow the interest in researching and developing new products designed to cope with market challenges in the packaging world, the interest in innovation, and the ability to cooperate effectively within the value chain. "
Quality and reliability are the basis of the relationship between the two companies, which dates back to the 1980s.Comments Marco Amici, EMEA Marketing Manager at Dow: “Dow’s relationship with ITP dates back many years. We have built a very solid collaboration which leverages the best both companies offer, in terms of packaging raw materials, design and final solution. Dow is very proud of this particular achievement, which, enabled by our precision packaging resin INNATETM, is nevertheless possible only through high quality collaboration with ITP”.
Together, ITP and Dow have presented prototypes of pouches for deep-frozen food packaging made with InnateTM during the last edition of Interpack - May 4-10, 2017 - showing the effective functionality of the product up to the packaging stage.
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