The latest additions to the Alathon family of film resins include two new medium molecular weight (MMW), high-density polyethylene (HDPE) materials, which promise moisture barrier, low gels, and excellent organoleptic properties. Alathon M6010 and Alathon M5010 have improved moisture barrier for dry-food packaging applications like cereal, snack crackers, and cake mix box liners. A MI homopolymer, LyondellBasell says lab tests have shown that Alathon M6010 increased moisture barrier vs. benchmark grades by approximately 30% without affecting processability, tear, and impact. The material also offers oxygen barrier.

Alathon M5010 is a 1 MI copolymer resin designed to improve toughness for a variety of films, including mono- and multilayer structures. LyondellBasell says the tear performance of film made from the material has been increased 20%, while high-speed puncture resistance was boosted by 40%. Alathon M6010 and Alathon M5010 are currently manufactured in the U.S. and available for export.

In blown polypropylene (PP) films, LyondellBasell has launched a grade based on its proprietary Catalloy technology that offers a combination of transparency and impact, puncture, and tear resistance. Adflex 7492 XCP has a 13% haze value at a film thickness of 30µm, offering clarity while maintaining softness and processing performance.

LyondellBasell says the product fills a need for a transparent blown PP that maintains mechanical properties, bubble stability, and throughput. The company believes applications could range from consumer and industrial packaging to agricultural and industrial films, and it’s working to develop new blown-film applications where PP grades previously fell short.
 
The company has conducted what it calls “promising tests” where Adflex was used as the core layer in a co-extruded film with fractional melt-flow-rate LDPE. The finished product maintained clarity when clarified PP skin layers were used. LyondellBasell says customers needing greater mechanical properties could apply (metallocene) mLLDPE skin layers with an Adflex 7492 XCP core. —[email protected]