A New Metallocene Polyethylene Family with an Unprecedented Combination of Processing and Film Performance, 2008 PLACE Conference

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The unique attributes of metallocene polyethylenes (mPEs) are well known. Their superior toughness properties have enabled many package redesigns and allowed film down-gauging which has led significant source reduction. Many traditional mPEs can present processing challenges due to their low melt strengths and high melt viscosities. Like conventional LLDPEs, traditional mPEs usually require the addition of LDPE to achieve sufficient melt strength for economical blown film extrusion. This addition of LDPE can substantially degrade the final film properties and end-use performance.

A new metallocene polyethylene family (named Enable™ mPE) has been developed which exhibits a unique combination of LDPE-like processing and mPE-like film performance. The molecular design of this new mPE family incorporates long chain branching coupled with narrow composition distributions. These new mPEs possess excellent melt strength and shear thinning characteristics that in many cases permit extrusion in traditional LDPE equipment using narrow die gaps. A monolayer blown film study demonstrated how a significant improvement in film toughness can be obtained by using 100% mPE film as a replacement for conventional LLDPE/LDPE blend films. The dart impact results shown below demonstrate that the new 100% mPE film outperforms butene-, hexene- and octene-LLDPE/LDPE blends at all blend ratios studied.