Dow Chemical (“Dow”) introduces their latest breakthrough product range - ELITE Advanced Technology (AT) Polyethylene (PE) Resins ? today to meet the increasing demand for higher performance films. Developed after years of intensive research, ELITE AT PE Resins are a proprietary and patent-pending post-metallocene technology built on the reliability and uniqueness of Dow’s INSITE technology. With the ELITE AT range of PE resins, there are endless possibilities to improve the performance of films in the high performance sealant film, high performance stretch wrap film and stretch hood film applications, directly benefiting film converters in the food and specialty packaging and industrial and consumer packaging market segments.

This latest innovation from Dow also aids film converters by making their high performance machine wrap films thinner yet tougher. As a result, some of the key strengths for this new range of resins include excellent toughness, improved optics, expanded elastic recovery, improved holding force and increased stretchability compared to competitive resin offerings. In addition, ELITE AT PE resins provide increased film yield and strength to secure pallets during transportation.

“With tremendous demand for higher performance films in Malaysia, it is only fitting that we launch ELITE AT PE resins first in Malaysia. ELITE AT maintains Dow’s leadership as the industry’s leading expert in the plastics market, with key improvements in resin design that current catalysts are not able to provide,” said Sudjali Halim, Senior Marketing Manager for Plastics, Asia Pacific.

Sustainable Solutions

Sustainability is a key factor in Dow’s development of today’s products. Films were not traditionally designed to demonstrate excellent toughness (i.e.: dart, tear and puncture) in structures, but the use of it in the downgauging process enables the ELITE AT resins to be more effective.

“At Dow, we are always thinking about sustainable and cost efficient solutions for our customers, and the advancements of ELITE AT PE resins will result in improved solutions, material savings, cost efficiency and overall, more advanced, sustainable products across the entire value chain,” Sudjali Halim added.

Expanding existing PE films performance with ELITE  AT

Created via a high-throughput catalyst and process technology, ELITE AT provides Dow a greater flexibility in tailoring molecular weight distribution, short-chain branching distribution and long-chain branching specific to an application’s requirement. With this new development, Dow gains greater freedom in designing resins and meets ongoing demands of PE films driven by advancement of processing equipment, sustainable usage of films and increased possibility of more applications. Dow will be introducing the following grades under the ELITE AT range in Malaysia which is the first stop of its series of new product launch road shows in Asia Pacific.

XUS 59999.15 P-mLLDPE Resin for High Performance Sealant Film

Designed for the Food and Specialty Packaging market segment, the XUS 59999.15 Post-metallocene Linear Low Density Polyethylene (P-mLLDPE) is the newest sealant resin developed with excellent toughness, optics, processibility and sealing characteristics. This high performance resin offers lower backpressure, lower power consumption, and excellent bubble stability evidenced through faster throughput compared to a conventional mLLDPE resin. Its broad sealing and excellent processibility properties for vertical-form-fill-seal (VFFS) bags enable producers to create suitable packaging for a greater variety of food and other applicable packaging solutions.

XUS 59999.06 P-mLLDPE Resin for High Performance Stretch Wrap Film

The ELITE AT stretches the performance of conventional resins with the latest XUS 59999.06 P-mLLDPE resin for the stretch wrap market in the industrial and consumer packaging market segment. This innovation combines two key cast film needs of the industry ? thinnest and toughest, in order to enable high stretchability for increased film yield and strong holding force to secure pallets during transportation. It is designed specifically to be used in downgauged machine wrap films, with a distinctive combination of stretch properties, in particular to high-on pallet puncture resistance. In addition, the XUS 59999.06 also has excellent processing in terms of low pressure and low melt temperatures.

XUS 59999.02 P-mLLDPE Resin for Stretch Hood Film

The ELITE AT XUS 59999.02 P-mLLDPE resin is perfect for the industrial and consumer packaging market segment as it features excellent toughness, elastic recovery, holding force and optics necessary for stretch hood applications. The resins are built with optimum processing characteristics with low back-pressure in extruders and excellent bubble stability. With clean running and low die buildup, the resin is also used as a core in combination with ATTANE NG 4701G Ultra Low Density Polyethylene Resins, offering elasticity and tear resistance.

This resin could potentially result in savings as compared to currently available product ethylene vinyl acetate (EVA) which has lower tear and toughness but higher density. For example, the XUS 59999.02 has lower film weight for the same cross sectional area yielding more packaged pallets per roll as compared to EVA. In addition, the insensitivity of the film to extreme orientation conditions allows for a larger die to increase throughput with the same film.