(Plastics Design Library) Barry A Morris - The Science and Technology of Flexible Packaging

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THE SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY
OF FLEXIBLE PACKAGING
Multilayer Films from Resin and Process
to End Use

Barry A. Morris

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Notices
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understanding, changes in research methods, professional practices, or medical treatment may become necessary.
Practitioners and researchers must always rely on their own experience and knowledge in evaluating and using any
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ISBN: 978-0-323-24273-8
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Preface
There are many handbooks available that describe
plastics and equipment to make multilayer film.
While these books provide a good list of what is
possible, they often fail to provide the reader the
fundamental understanding of why one material is
favored over another for a particular application,
or how the film or coating process affects the properties. Also, these books do not cover how the
product being packaged and the end use affect the
film properties.
Similarly, there are handbooks on packaging technology that provide details on the mechanical aspects
of packaging equipment and outline film structures
currently in use (at least at the time the book was published). These books fail to explain the principles
behind packaging equipment from a unit operation’s
perspective (sealing, thermoforming, and so on). Nor
do they give the reader a fundamental understanding
of how to design a packaging structure.
There are also a few textbooks that provide an
academic analysis of polymer processes. These are
typically written at a level beyond the reach or desire
of most packaging engineers.
My goal is to a book that brings the science
to the practitioner in a concise and impactful way,
bridging the gap between standard handbooks and
academic treatises. Using scientific principles, I
explore (and debunk) some of the myths that have
persisted in our industry. While discussing key challenges in the packaging industry, I provide a critical
review of the scientific literature as well as practical
explanations and tips on how to deal with the challenge. Too often packaging engineers fail to seek
out the scientific literature. One benefit of this
book is easy access to this literature, summarized
in a meaningful way. Finally, the book provides
insight into why things are done the way they are,
which makes the work evergreen: the same principles can be applied to new packaging applications
with new materials that are sure to come along in
the future.

This book is organized into seven parts and two
appendices:
1. Introduction
2. Basic processes
3. Material basics
4. Film properties
5. Effect of ing processes on properties
6. End-use considerations
7. Structure Design and Modeling
Appendix A: Writing Guide for Packaging Films
and Other Multilayer Structures
Appendix B: Examples of Flexible Packaging
Film Structures
The introduction provides a brief history of packaging and its benefits to society. It describes the basic
functions of packaging, the packaging value chain,
and what is important for each player in the value
chain. It also introduces the need for multilayer films
to provide the needs along the value chain in the most
cost-effective manner.
Part 2 briefly describes the processes involved in
the manufacture and use of multilayer films for packaging. Basic differences between technologies and
why one may be favored over another for a given
application are highlighted. Key unit operations and
processing variables are introduced that affect properties, which are described in more detail in subsequent chapters.
Part 3 introduces resins and substrates commonly
used in flexible packaging, highlighting important
properties, applications, and regulatory issues. Chapters on melt rheology and polymer blending round
out the basics.
Part 4 begins the heart of the book, providing
detailed deions and analysis of the key properties of packaging films from an engineering and

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scientific perspective. Drawing from personal knowledge/experiments and the scientific and patent literature, the current state of knowledge around these
properties is distilled. Each chapter begins with
why the property under discussion is important,
how to measure it and typical values. This is followed
by a discussion of the science behind how materials
influence these properties. Subjects include heat sealing, barrier, physical strength, abuse resistance, adhesion, optical properties, frictional properties,
shrinkage, and thermoforming.
Properties of packaging films cannot be thought of
in isolation of the process used to make them. Part 5
explores the effect processing has on film properties
in tandem with material properties. Three chapters
com