In its ongoing effort to develop products that stretch the property balance of polyolefins and create new performance and productivity opportunities for OEMs and processors, Basell has introduced three new resins that can address the demands of manufacturers across a wide spectrum of markets and applications.
Two of the new grades are Hostalen HDPE products and the third is a Moplen polypropylene resin. These resins are currently manufactured in Europe and are available for export.
“These resins expand the existing performance profile normally associated with polyolefins and they can bring significant cost and performance advantages to processors”, said Pierre Herben, head of innovation and new business for Basell Polyolefins Europe. “They can also offer OEM design engineers new options and opportunities to apply our products in ever-more demanding applications.”
Extending performance window of HDPE while targeting lower production costs for blow molding applications
Hostalen ACP 5331A is a blow molding grade with an excellent combination of mechanical properties, combining a high tensile modulus with outstanding environmental stress cracking resistance that is much higher than the current standard for blow molding HDPE grades.
“Basell’s proprietary Hostalen Advanced Cascade Process (ACP) technology allows us to produce resins that can enable converters to develop new standards in the performance of their applications and generate value in their markets,” said Peter Bisson, technical segment manager for blow molding applications in Basell Polyolefins Europe. “We see that customers typically choose Hostalen ACP 5331A for blow molded jerry cans, where resins manufactured with the Hostalen ACP technology help customers to achieve reduced wall thickness, which is the key to reduced container weight, reduced material consumption and reduced cycle times, all of which are keys to competitiveness and value for processors.”
Addressing increasingly demanding performance requirements by customers in film applications while retaining excellent surface appearance
Basell has developed a new HDPE blown film resin, Hostalen GX4041, which delivers a combination of stiffness and impact performance selected by many converters and end-users for the production of lamination film, release film (bitumen films), paper-like film, label film, bags and shoppers, and heavy duty bag packaging.
“Hostalen GX4041 can enable the production of film with a very broad conversion window, good lay flat properties and excellent roll configuration,” according to Joerg Auffermann, technical service engineer for film applications in Basell Polyolefins Europe.
“High quality thin-film production operations call for materials that can be processed on blown film lines at high output rates with excellent bubble stability, very low gel levels and homogeneous appearance,” said Auffermann. “Converters and end-users alike have asked us to provide them with new materials that can bring improved stiffness and impact performance without sacrificing their productivity or surface appearance requirements. We invite them to assess our new Hostalen GX4041 resin, part of Basell’s Hostalen HDPE family of materials.”
Combining the benefits of high impact strength with high fluidity for easy processing of large, heavy duty crate and luggage applications
Moplen EP 1661 resin brings about the processing advantages of high fluidity, excellent low temperature impact behavior, and an excellent stiffness/impact balance as well as good creep and stacking performance.
“Industrial trials and internal tests show that in comparison to the current market benchmarks, Moplen EP 1661 has the potential to offer the significant processing advantages which high fluidity brings, including reduced cycle times, reduced processing temperatures and reduced injection pressures,” said Olivier Dresse, technical service engineer for Basell Polyolefins Europe. “EP 1661’s high fluidity also helps the easier production of large items like luggage where the potential for achieving reduced wall thicknesses allows potentially significant weight reduction opportunities.”
At the same time, tests show that EP 1661 does not sacrifice the impact strength and rigidity requirements, especially at low temperatures, which are necessary for customers to succeed in the market represented by large, heavy-duty luggage and crate applications where high breakage resistance materials at sub zero temperatures are required, and where reasonable stiffness and high creep resistance is necessary to allow high stacking and use of end-products at elevated temperatures.
About Basell
Basell is the world's largest producer of polypropylene and advanced polyolefin products, a leading supplier of polyethylene and catalysts, and a global leader in the development and licensing of polypropylene and polyethylene processes. Basell, together with its joint ventures, has manufacturing facilities around the world and sells products in more than 120 countries. Additional information about Basell is available at www.basell.com.
For additional information, contact: Michelle Harrell, Basell Corporate Communications, at +1 302 438 6574, +1 410 996 1366 or michelle.harrell@basell.com
