Bright, Clear, Colorful, Cost Effective Plastic Solutions Grow From Additives Created By Milliken Chemical

Consumer products and packaging made from plastics today are bright, clear, colorful and increasingly cost efficient thanks to plastic additives created by Milliken & Company. Combining a portfolio of innovative polymer offerings with global research and development and technical support, Milliken is increasingly recognized as a leading global source for plastic packaging solutions and innovative polymeric additives.

“Our focus is on inventing polymer additive technologies that result in improved product quality, both aesthetically and functionally,” said Jean Hall, business manager of the plastic additives business of Milliken. “From the production of clear baby bottles to durable storage containers, we work throughout the supply chain to understand and then help meet the needs of each link, starting at resin manufacturing through converting and ultimately to consumers.”

Milliken’s stable of innovative polymer-based plastics additives is extensive:

•Millad® 3988 – Enabling the highest transparency commercially possible, Millad 3988 is the world’s most widely used clarifying agent for PP. It is recognized across the globe for superior clarity and processing advantages. Millad clarified PP also has many benefits compared to other clear plastic materials including a lower density, strength and cost effectiveness.

Millad has been instrumental in the expansion of polypropylene into many value added applications, such as cosmetic bottles and food storage containers. This extension of end use applications for clarified polypropylene is continuing with a recent push by Milliken in support of extremely clear packaging for optical media storage, including the rapidly expanding DVD market, and injection stretch blow molding (ISBM) bottle market for fresh juices and dairy products.

•ClearTint® Colorants – Designed specifically to work in conjunction with Millad, ClearTint colorants provide the brightest, cleanest, and most transparent colors available for polypropylene. Benefits of ClearTint include deep rich shades unavailable with traditional pigment colors, which are FDA compliant, non-migrating and non-extracting. ClearTint provides users with consistent color matching capabilities on a global basis.

Applications for ClearTint colorants include diverse markets such as colorful packaging for detergents, shampoos and cosmetics, food storage containers and soft drink container closures. These products can also be formulated to meet USP requirements for light transmission in pharmaceutical packaging. Recent research conducted on behalf of Milliken showed bottled beverages with a see-through plastic caps are much more likely to be chosen by consumers than those with opaque caps, with 62 percent of all respondents preferring the see-through plastic cap.

•ClearShield® – ClearShield is a homogenous, non-settling liquid polymer created exclusively as an additive for PET containers to provide maximum protection against damaging UV rays without imparting color to the package. It protects against loss of flavor, nutritional value and color of beverages. Incorporated during the resin manufacturing process or during container molding, ClearShield does not impact the color or clarity of PET containers and will not migrate into beverages, food or other products. It is FDA compliant.

ClearShield can be found in food and beverage containers whose contents are sensitive to UV exposure, such as juices, fortified waters, milk and nutritional beverages.

•Hyperform® HPN-68L - A high-speed nucleating agent for polypropylene that promotes extremely fast crystallization, resulting in improved processing speed and productivity. Hyperform also enhances product quality through improved dimensional stability, isotropic shrinkage and physical property balance.

Hyperform HPN-68L applications include closures, automotive parts, lawn furniture, returnable plastics packaging and appliance parts.

In addition to offering a wide array of advanced polymeric additives, Milliken’s global technical