Uses and Attributes of BOPP Films

Uses and Attributes of BOPP Films – Its advantages and features

Biaxially Oriented PolyPropylene (BOPP Film) is the film that has been stretched both mechanically and also in manually using cross direction technique. Due to its advantages this film has become one of the most popular and highly demanded films all across the word.

These are the films that have BOPP as the base material. Its unique attributes are:

1. These films have the density nearer to 0.90 g/m and hence it renders high yield at the same cost as compared to other films viz. polyester films
2. BOPP films have excellent gloss and high transparency that give it an excellent look and fine finish.
3. Other polyester films are not resistant to outside pollution whereas BOPP films act as good moisture resistant barrier and have tendency to resist pollution and harmful chemicals.
4. This film have spectrum of wide range and are easily available viz. Matte, Glossy, Silky matter etc.
5. Excellent clarity
6. Best dimensional stability and flatness
7. Low electro static charge
8. Acts as good barrier to water vapor
9. BOPP films exert good and optimum performance on high speeding printing
10. Apart from resistant to harmful chemicals and pollution, these films act as resistant to oils and grease
11. Good puncture and flex crack resistance over wide range of temperatures
12. Also BOPP films are not affected by the moisture and does not wrinkle or shrink with changes in the environment
13. They are recyclable

BOPP films have great benefits like:

• They are environment friendly
• Are light in weight
• Are accepted easily all across the world
• Damage of the product due to transport, weather etc are reduced
• to great extent
• Has the tendency to keep the product dry
• No de- lamination is required
• They have good clarity and are resistant to ultra violet rays

BOPP films have wide range of applications

1. Grade F1 films are used for packing of food and their sealing
2. Standard BOPP films are used for electrical applications, printing and lamination
3. Text book covering
4. Other applications includes extrusion coating, flower packing, reverse printing and lamination
5. They are also used as adhesive tapes and pressure sensitive tapes
6. White and opaque colored film are used for general purposes like printing pouching, cable over wrap, strip packaging for cough drops and heat sealable BOPP films are used for general purpose and over wrapping.

However BOPP lamination films have certain draw backs viz.

• BOPP sealing is poor
• There is high range of crystalline nature in BOPP films as the surface of these films is nonpolar.
• The performance of this film in the printing is poor and has poor relativity as to ink because of low surface energy.

In spite of few drawbacks BOPP films have become the latest buzzword in the packaging arena and they are in the good books of both the manufacturers and the end users.

BOPP PROPERTIES

1.  Shelf life extension: Among all other commonly used plastic films, BOPP films provides excellent moisture barrier & its metallised variant provides better oxygen barrier to product. Both these properties of BOPP films play a key role in food packaging to extend the shelf life of products & thus reduce food waste.

2. Product quality: Apart from barrier properties, BOPP film provides consistent and excellent seal integrity because of narrow gauge spread. Good heat seal strength, lower seal initiation temperature, broad sealing window and good machinability further benefits into food packaging industry for protecting food quality.

3. Sustainability: BOPP film has a relatively low carbon footprint as compared to other plastic films substrate such as polyester. After cellulose film, BOPP Film is the second most preferred substrate for its eco friendly nature in flexible food packaging. Because of its low melting point, it requires lower energy to convert from one form to other. Reprocessed granules of BOPP resin are widely used to manufacture injection molded parts, household items like sitting mats, chair, table, automobile spares etc.

4. Aesthetic / Graphics: Excellent transparency in clear BOPP films allows providing high level of aesthetic appeal to product packaging. Half tone printing jobs with multi color printing are also carried out with ease on this film for high quality graphics. In white opaque film variant, excellent gloss, high opacity and superb whiteness provides an attractive look to product packaging. Metalized film variety gives superior metallic appearance to stand out your product on the shelf. Because of good surface tension, post lamination operations like foil stamping, UV spot coating and embossing could be carried out to enhance aesthetic look of product packaging.

5. Density: It is a unique property that BOPP films has among all other commonly used flexible packaging films. Low density results into more yield during conversion and thus supports less plastic consumption concept per product. Low density results into less weight per roll for the same length of other plastic film which provides ease of material handling.