Dow Furthers Collaboration at Film Application Development Center

The Dow Chemical Company’s Performance Packaging business will continue its commitment to establishing strong value chain partners and collaboration within its Film Application Development Center (FADC). The Center, located at Dow’s Freeport, Texas facility, is a state-of-the-art lab that offers customers and formulators the opportunity to conceptualize, fabricate, test and validate the latest in film packaging applications without the cost and downtime associated with utilizing their own production facilities.

One of the collaborations the FADC recently established is the installation of a Herrmann Ultrasonics HiQ Dialog 20kHz Ultrasonic Welder. This state-of-the-art machine allows customers and packaging film developers to evaluate sealants and film structures for ultrasonic sealing applications and measure seal strengths. The HiQ Dialog provides the ability to control the sealing process by several factors, including total energy, and records and tracks seal process data, enabling a thorough analysis of the ultrasonic sealing window for materials and structures. Additionally, the welder will facilitate the investigation of seal through contamination and other benefits of ultrasonic sealing, allowing the team to test films for performance in ultrasonic sealing applications.

Another exciting new addition to the lab is the Cloeren Nanolayer Feedblock. The Feedblock offers the FADC’s visitors one of the most sophisticated and versatile systems to produce nanolayer films on Dow’s Egan five-layer cast extrusion line. The system is suited for use in the testing and production of films in applications including flex-crack resistant barrier film, optical film, stretch film and high barrier food packaging film. Dow’s partners can now fabricate and test packaging applications with enhanced barrier performance, film toughness, modulus, formability and optics.

“The Hermann Ultrasonic Sealer and Cloeren Feedblock are two wonderful new additions to our facility and we couldn’t be more pleased with the value they offer our customers. This new equipment from two of our trusted industry partners further expands the breadth of our testing and fabrication capabilities in technologies which are becoming much, much more important to flexible packaging,” said Greg Bunker, associate marketing director for Flexible Food & Specialty Packaging, North America. “We are committed to providing the resources, relationships and expertise that our customers need and by collaborating not only with Herrmann Ultrasonics and Cloeren, but all of our packaging and film extrusion partners, we can enable better packaging for all of our customers.”

Dow is one of the world’s largest materials suppliers to the $500 billion global packaging industry. Dow offers one of the widest product portfolios of resins, film substrates and other materials for developing tomorrow’s sustainable packaging solutions today to help converters meet consumer demand. Key product and technology segments in Dow Performance Packaging include structural and abuse resins, sealants/peelable seals, tie layers and adhesives, barrier resins and specialty films.

Source: Dow