Blow molders offered increased choice and quality, thanks to expansion of SABIC® PP Qrystal grade family

SITTARD, The Netherlands, October 17, 2012 - To provide options for extrusion blow molding companies looking for a cost-effective, clear and stiff material for their small and medium-sized bottles, SABIC has developed a new, high-clarity SABIC® PP Qrystal polypropylene. These random copolymers were designed with notable flow behaviour, providing processors with the flexibility to potentially produce parts faster and with lower energy consumption.

SABIC® PP Qrystal QR681K has a melt flow rate (MFR) of 2.2 g/10 min, which provides converters with good parison control, while reducing machine torque and melt pressure. These features, coupled with optimized die swell, give them the chance to further optimize the wall thickness of their bottles, and possibly attain important weight savings. SABIC® PP Qrystal QR681K has good impact strength– as well as the chemical resistance typical of polypropylene, making it typically suitable for packaging household chemicals, as well as typical shampoo and personal care applications. The new material is intended for containers up to 5L in volume. Although principally targeted at extrusion blow molding (EBM), tests by SABIC on injection blow molding (IBM) equipment have also yielded promising results.

“The combination of the enhanced transparency at lowered processing temperatures and it’s weight saving potential can be utilized by processors to save energy and/or reduce cycle times without any negative effect on product quality,” says Marnik Vaes, Technical Marketing Engineer PP at SABIC. “This can be a sustainable solution to decrease the molded article carbon footprint and its unit cost structure.”

SABIC’s customers now have an even broader package of PP random copolymers to choose from, that provide them with possible solutions for a wide range of applications and processing techniques, providing a combination of good transparency with potential lower conversion costs. The SABIC® PP Qrystal range now comprises five grades, with MFRs ranging from 2 to 80 g/10 min.

All SABIC® PP Qrystal grades offer converters a good balance of impact strength and stiffness and enable them to produce parts with no loss of transparency or aesthetics. They meet the precise demands of our customers in markets such as injection molded housewares, office and home storage, lids and cap & closures, as well as blow molded products. The levels of transparency and gloss make the resulting products highly competitive on the shelf.

The SABIC® PP Qrystal grade family is produced both in Europe and the Middle East.

SABIC® PP Qrystal QR681K, as well as other grades from the family, will be on display at SABIC’s stand at the Fakuma, the international trade fair for plastics processing being held in Friedrichshafen, Germany, from October 16 to 20. Stand 5506, Hall B.

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