Total claims strongest and thinnest film innovation

Total has launched a metallocene polyethylene (mPE) film material that it claims enables flexible packaging converters to achieve films that are up to 25% thinner than existing films.

Lumicene Supertough 32ST05 is a downgauging breakthrough for multilayer structures that targets industry need for easy to process, high-performance, lightweight solutions for industrial packaging, personal care/hygiene and food sectors, said the firm.

The mPE innovation offers a combination of strength and toughness, even at low temperatures which overcome traditional limits and drawbacks of thinner films, allowing converters to create a strong film using less material but with the processing advantages of LDPE.

Carl Van Camp, senior vice president polymers division, said: “The downgauging story is a never-ending quest to push the thickness limits of packaging down.

"Where these limits of downgauging are reached, Supertough 32ST05 steps in to give the necessary boost in toughness to overcome the thickness barrier.”