Effect of Formulation and Processing on the

Properties of High Performance LLDPE in

Heavy Duty Film Applications

Maged Botros Ph.D., Steve Imfeld and Matt Sonnycalb

Application Development & Technical Service
LyondellBasell Industries
Topics

Background
Markets and Applications
Experimental Plan
Results
Conclusions
Acknowledgements

2
Background

Objective
Evaluate the effect of processing conditions on the performance of LLDPE resin
blends in heavy gauge films
Compare the performance of High Performance LLDPE resin blends in heavy gauge
films

GS906 is a new Petrothene Select High Performance Hexene LLDPE

developed for demanding blown film applications
Fractional melt index advanced super hexene
0.6 MI (g/10min.), 0.9165 (g/cc) density
Superior combination of film strength properties
Excellent melt strength

Target Applications
Trash can liners, heavy duty & industrial packaging films and other high
performance film applications
Status: sold commercially

3
North American Markets
Consuming High Performance LLDPE Film Resins
High performance LLDPE resins are used in many demanding film
applications

Primary High Strength LL Volume

LLDPE Film Markets MM kg (MM lbs.)
Consumer & Institutional Can Liners 771 (1700)
Heavy Duty Films
Shipping Sacks, Industrial Liners, 726 (1600)
Construction Film
Combined Sources: 2011 Mastio Film Study, 2012 PTAI HAO Film Study, ACC LL Industry
2011

4
 High Strength LLDPE Film Resins
Physical Property Comparison
New Frac. Melt Super Hexene resin offers a good balance of physical properties

MD
Frac. SH Std. SH
Modulus
(psi) C6 mLL Std. C6
3.00

2.50 Std. C8

2.00

1.50

1.00
MD 0.50 MD Tear
Tensile 0.00 Strength
Strength
(g)
(g)

Aged Dart
Drop
(g) 5
LLDPE Blend Study - Experimental Plan
Study the effect of Blow Up Ratio (BUR), Frost Line Height
(FLH) and Melt Temperature (MT) on film performance

Used face-centered design of experiments with three variables

BUR at 1.5, 2.0, 2.5
FLH/Die Diameter (FLH/DD) at 2.5, 3.25, 3.75
Die diameter: 10.2 cm (4 inches)
Melt Temp at 232C (450F), 243C (470F), 254C (490F)

Produced and tested 3-mil blown films

Compared film performance at similar stiffness ~276 Mpa

(~40,000 psi) and similar melt strength by adding HDPE and
LDPE to the formulations as required
6
Blends Studied

Formulation ID LLDPE Resin % LDPE %HDPE

New development - Fractional melt index

Frac. SH 0 25
advanced super hexene
Std. SH Typical super hexene 20 19

C6 mLL Hexene metallocene 20 20

HD mLL Hexene metallocene at higher density 20 4

Std. C6 Standard hexene 20 16

Std. C8 Standard octene 20 14

LDPE resin: 0.25 MI, 0.918 density tubular grade

HDPE resin: 0.45 MI, 0.950 density Z/N grade

7
Formulations Adjusted for Equivalent Melt Strength
Melt Strength of Pure Resins

0% LDPE Melt Strength of Resins Blended with 20% LDPE

8
Film Testing Overview

Tested properties: rheology, modulus, tensile yield, dart impact,

tear, puncture, tensile strength, COF, optics

Properties strongly affected by process variables studied

Dart Drop
Machine Direction Tear
Transverse Direction Tear
Transverse Direction Modulus

Other properties showed minor effects of individual process

variables

9
Dart Drop Results

Dart Drop highly influenced by blowup ratio

Melt temperature and frostline height marginally significant

BUR has roughly double the effect of MT and FLH over the ranges
studied
BUR: +70 g from 1.5 to 2.5
MT: +36 g from 232C (450F) to 254C (490F)
FLH/DD: -30 g from 2.5 to 3.75

Effect of LLDPE Type on Dart Drop Blend Performance:

C6 mLL, Frac. SH, and HD mLL > Std. C8 and Std. SH. > Std. C6

10
Effect of BUR on Dart Drop Performance

Dart Drop increases with increasing BUR

Frac. SH shows robust performance at all BURs
Dart Drop 1.5 BUR
400
2.0 BUR
2.5 BUR
350

300

250
F50 (g)

200
375 375 370
350 345 350
330 325 330 335 325
315
150
285
260
245
225 225
100
175

50

0
Frac. SH HD mLL Std. C6 Std. SH C6 mLL Std. C8
11
Effect of Frostline Height on Dart Drop Performance

In general, Dart Drop decreases slightly with increasing

Frostline Height

Dart Drop
450
2.5 FLH/DD
400 3.25 FLH/DD
3.75 FLH/DD
350

300

250
F50 (g)

420
200 400
375 365 380
345 350 335
325 315 320 335
150 290 285
260 255
235 245
100

50

0
Frac. SH HD mLL Std. C6 Std. SH C6 mLL Std. C8
12
Effect of Melt Temp. on Dart Drop Performance

Increasing Melt Temp increases Dart Drop slightly

Dart Drop
500

450

400

350

300
232C (450F)
F50 (g)

250
243C (470F)
440
200 254C (490F)
375 370 380
345 350
325 325 340 315 320 310
335 325
150
245 255 255
100 220

50

0
GS906062 Exceed 1023 GA601030 GS909062X01 GM1810BB Dowlex 2045

13
Machine Direction Tear Results

MD Tear highly influenced by blowup ratio and melt temperature

Frostline height is not significant

BUR has roughly double the effect of MT over the ranges studied
BUR: +270 g from 1.5 to 2.5
MT: +160 g from 450 to 490

Effect of LLDPE Type on Dart Drop Blend Performance:

Frac. SH >>> Std. C8 & C6 mLL, > Std. SH, HD mLL. & Std. C6

14
Effect of BUR on MD Tear Performance
Increasing BUR improves MD Tear
Frac. SH has superior MD Tear over a broad processing range
Note: MD tear is typically lower than TD
Higher MD tear helps to maintain package integrity

1200.0
MDTear BUREffect
1.5BUR
1000.0 2.0BUR
2.5BUR
800.0
MDTear(g)

600.0

968
863
400.0
730 753 720
512 607
552 584
495 514 498
200.0 375.80 403.90
337 342.20
283.10
195.00
0.0
Frac.SH HDmLL Std.C6 Std.SH C6mLL Std.C8
15
Effect of Frostline Height on MD Tear Performance
In general, frostline height has no significant statistical effect on MD Tear
Frac. SH maintains superior performance at all FLH

MDTear
1200.0
2.5FLH/DD
3.25FLH/DD
1000.0
3.75FLH/DD

800.0
MDTear(g)

600.0
1,019
968

400.0 915
643
583 551.8 583.8
495.4 497.6 492 523
472 569
200.0 409 418 419
370 337.3

0.0
Frac.SH HDmLL Std.C6 Std.SH C6mLL Std.C8

16
Effect of Melt Temp. on MD Tear Performance

In general, increasing Melt Temp increases MD Tear

Frac. SH has superior MD Tear at all temperatures

MDTear
1200.0
232C(450F)
243C(470F)
1000.0
254C(490F)

800.0
MDTear(g)

600.0

968
860 856
400.0 788 775

588 616 584

539 547 539 552
467 495 498
200.0
337 348
291

0.0
Frac.SH HDmLL Std.C6 Std.SH C6mLL Std.C8

17
Transverse Direction Tear Results

TD Tear highly influenced by blowup ratio and melt temperature

Frostline height is not significant

BUR has roughly double the effect of MT over the ranges studied
(Note the effects are negative)
BUR: -440 g from 1.5 to 2.5
MT: -260 g from 450 to 490

Effect of LLDPE type on Dart Drop blend performance:

Std. SH, Frac. SH, and Std. C8 > Std. C6, C6 mLL, and HD mLL

18
Effect of BUR on TD Tear Performance
Increasing BUR decreases TD Tear
TD Tear is comparable for all LLDPE blends
Note: TD tear values are much higher than MD tear and therefore it is not the
weak point in the structure

TD Tear
3000.0
1.5 BUR
2.0 BUR
2500.0
2.5 BUR
2000.0
TD Tear (g)

1500.0

2,244 2,279
1000.0 2014.1 2,016 1,945 2,000
1,723 1,777
1,585 1,604 1,955 1,574
1,539
1,405
1,716 1,551
1,278 1,492
500.0

0.0
Frac. SH HD mLL Std. C6 Std. SH C6 mLL Std. C8

19
 Effect of Frostline Height on TD Tear Performance

In general, frostline height has no significant statistical effect on TD Tear

TD Tear
2500.0
2.5 FLH/DD
3.25 FLH/DD
3.75 FLH/DD
2000.0

1500.0
TD Tear (g)

2,099
1000.0 1,837 2,016 2,000
1,773 1,858
1,723 1,714 1,741 1,949 1,594 1,689 1,849
1,486 1,604 1,539
1,405
1,389
500.0

0.0
Frac. SH HD mLL Std. C6 Std. SH C6 mLL Std. C8

20
 Effect of Melt Temp. on TD Tear Performance

In general, increasing Melt Temp decreases TD Tear

TD Tear
2500.0
232C (450F)
243C (470F)
254C (490F)
2000.0

1500.0
TD Tear (g)

2,012
1000.0 2,016 2,000
1,828 1,814 1,832 1,835
1,439 1,687
1,604 1,572 1,539
1,723 1,519
1,405 1,448
1,349
1,394
500.0

0.0
Frac. SH HD mLL Std. C6 Std. SH C6 mLL Std. C8

21
Transverse Direction Modulus Results

Only melt temperature had a significant effect on the TD

modulus values
Negative effect
On average the TD modulus decreased by about 11% when
moving from 232C (450F) to 254C (490F)

22
Effect of Melt Temperature on TD Modulus

In general, increasing Melt Temp decreases TD Modulus

TD 1% Secant Modulus
400

350
TD 1% Secant Modulus (MPa)

300

250
232C(450F)
200
366 341 345 243C(470F)
350 354 324
322 338 329 339 329 254C(490F)
319 305 325
150 301
268 274 261
100

50

0
Frac. SH HD mLL Std. C6 Std. SH C6 mLL Std. C8

23
Summary of the Effect of Processing Conditions on the
Performance of LLDPE Blends

Increasing Increasing Increasing

Blow Up Ratio Frost Line Melt Temp
Height

Key Meaning
Dart Drop ++ - +
++ Improved
+ Slight
MD Tear ++ 0 ++ Improved
o No Change
TD Tear -- 0 -- - Slight
Decrease
TD Creep -- ++ -- -- Decreased

TD 0 0 --
Modulus

24
Conclusions

Summary of the Effect of Process Ultimate

MD
Variables: Tensile
Overall effect of processing Strength
2.0
variables on film properties:
BUR > MT > FLH 1.5 Ultimate
TD
Gloss45 1.0
Overall LLDPE Blend Tensile
Strength
Performance Comparison: 0.5

Resin Blends Compared Using the 0.0

Following Optimal
Processing Conditions:
BUR = 2.5 Drop
TD Tear
Dart
FLH/DD = 3.25
Melt Temperature = 232C (450F)
MD Tear
Frac. SH LLDPE Blend offers:
Exceptional tear performance
Good balance of physical properties Frac. SH HD mLL Std. C6

Std. SH C6 mLL Std. C8

25
 Thank you
PRESENTED BY

Maged G. Botros, Ph.D.

Application Development & Technical Service
LyondellBasell Industries
Maged.botros@lyb.com

Acknowledgements:
Matt Rangitsch
Dinshong Dong
Bob Holweger
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27