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Demand for biaxially oriented films, and equipment to process them, is showing a trend toward change as markets become saturated and new applications in other areas pop up. This is what the world's largest producer of tenter frame equipment Brückner Maschinenbau (Siegsdorf, Germany) told the trade press recently at a pre-K 2010 meeting at its headquarters. The company claims about a 60%-70% market share for machinery for this sector.

Robert Colvin

July 14, 2010

4 Min Read
Tastes changing in biax film demand

Although demand for standard biaxially oriented polypropylene (BOPP) lines for packaging films is still hot in China, where Brückner sold about 80% of its film stretching lines in 2009, demand in other markets, particularly in Western Europe and North America, is stagnating as processors continue to use already-installed capacity without making new investments. From 1996-2010, the installed Chinese production capacity of biaxially oriented films multiplied almost tenfold: in 1996 it was 570,000 tonnes/year, but by 2010 it reached 5,100,000 tonnes/year, says Axel von Wiedersperg, CEO of Brückner Technology Holding. Lines that are ordered today are on the average substantially wider and just 10 years ago two lines would have been required two lines to reach same output, he says.

"Although a downturn is presently being observed for lines for standard packaging film in China, this shall, above all, be compensated by the demand for production lines for technical films such as BOPET thin films," von Wiedersperg says. Processors are working to develop thinner films requiring less raw material, as well as use resins produced from renewable resources.

Von Wiedersperg says in times of limited resources and increasing oil prices, film manufacturers are asking for equipment that processes thinner films with equivalent or even improved properties. Further demand is coming from processors who want to reduce or eliminate processing steps such as lamination or coating for packaging, and see thinner functional multi-layers ranging from 1-4 µm with such barrier materials as EVOH or nylon as the answer.

Ludwig Eckart, COO sales/project management at the company, says Brückner is also seeing substantial interest for equipment that is able to produce biax PET films in thickness ranges up to 250 µm for photovoltaic units, or BOPET web up to 400 µm for optical applications such as LCD displays. The company is also carrying out R&D for battery separator films used in electric vehicles.

"In Western Europe, U.S., Japan, Taiwan, and Korea, only a few large lines are being ordered to meet the slightly increased demand for standard film. There is a tendency to rather produce thinner film on existing lines," he says. "In terms of surface area, more film can be produced with the same amount of material. There is a tendency that film manufacturers are more and more turning their attention to specialty films."

Demand for biodegradable biaxially oriented films is also growing, says Uwe Thönniss, co-managing director of Brückner Servtec, the service arm of the group. Yet it appears processors are reluctant to invest in new equipment for such applications. So Servtec has started a program to retrofit existing equipment from standard packaging applications to ones that can handle stretching polylactic acid (PLA) resin. The change is, however, not just a drop in, he says. "BOPLA shows completely different processability compared to competitive resins on the market," he says.

Servtec says the easiest equipment to retrofit for BOPLA are lines that stretch polystyrene (BOPS). BOPET lines also offer a possibility but require more attention while BOPP lines tend to be the most difficult to upgrade for the biodegradable resin. Besides having to be dried prior to processing, BOPLA has a different viscosity than the other materials, therefore requiring different torque, lower stretching temperatures, and substantially different stretching properties to BOPP, he says.

However, BOPLA offers users good optical properties combined with high stiffness, giving it dead fold. Resistance to oil, fat, and alcohol as well as a low water vapor barrier are beneficial for a variety of what Thönniss says are "challenging" foodstuffs. BOPLA also has low sealing temperatures, high sealing strength, and good twistability and printability. Some processors appear to see BOPLA as a market niche for the future and are willing to have their equipment altered to process it. One example is Taghleef Industries Italy (formerly Radici Films, San Giorgio di Nogaro) that is having one of its 4m-wide BOPET lines retrofitted by Servtec so it can start producing BOPLA by the end of the year.

"The growing demand for BOPLA packaging material is primarily triggered by the food industry, which is looking for the adequate packaging of their healthy nutritional [foodstuffs]," says Thönniss. "Many (consumers) are willing to spend more for their purchases, if they can contribute to a protection of our natural resources," he says.

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