Plastic FIlms like many things, trade off one property at the expense of another.
If polyethylene film has not been your life, take 2 minutes to learn the 101 for background.
for example –
if you want these properties in the same film it’s not going to happen because
stiff and low melt point melt point is a function of density
soft and high melt point higher density = stiffer, higher melt point
lower density = softer, lower melt point
fast tack and low seal intiation point & stiff molecules become more crystalline as density increases
clear and soft lower density is tacky. Antiblock is necessary to prevent
blocking on the roll.
Melt Index Most of the trade-offs can be grasped with a rudimentary understanding of the two most basic influencers of a resin’s personality which derive from a geeky term called molecular weight distribution – melt index and density. https://www.brentwoodplastics.com/polyethylene
It seems intuitive that a resin which is very viscous ( hard to push ) is going to be strong. An extreme example is the resin used to make Tyvek and those t shirt bags the greens love to hate. It is forty times harder to push than your garden variety bread bag resin. Strong, but not clear. At the other extreme, a hot melt resin which is 700 times less resistant to flow than bread bag resin has no strength.
Density
Density derives from crystallinity. At the upper extreme, high density ( HDPE ) is very stiff ( think milk carton ) and requires a lot of heat to get it to flow into the mold. At the lower extreme ( VLDPE and ULDPE ) it takes minimal heat to initiate a seal because of low heat resistance and minimal crystallinity.
Even metallocene https://www.brentwoodplastics.com/metallocene is not exempt from these laws.
These factors must be considered when sealing film from one blown film extruder to another. It’s a wild-card scenario. If the 2 resins are too dissimilar they will not seal. The new film is always blamed for poor seals. If there are bad seals, no problem. Don’t pay for it. There are plenty of other places to get film.
