Heat Shrinkable Film
“Shrink wrap, also shrinkwrap or shrink film, is a material made up of polymer plastic film. When heat is applied it shrinks tightly over whatever it is covering. Heat can be applied with a hand held heat gun (electric or gas) or the product and film can pass through a heat tunnel on a conveyor. “ (Wikipedia, Shrinkable Film, 9/19/2011)
“Shrinkable thermoplastic films have found many useful applications in packaging of meats, cheeses, poultry and numerous other food and non-food products. There is always the search for improvement in these films to make them have better impact resistance, improved optics and improved shrinkability. For example, in U.S. Pat. No. 4,640,856 to Ferguson et al., the multilayer thermoplastic heat shrinkable film was described having improved shrink, toughness and barrier properties. The film included at least one layer of a very low density polyethylene and a gas barrier layer of vinylidene chloride copolymer or ethylene vinyl alcohol. The film was found to be particularly useful for making bags for packaging large cuts of fresh red meat.” (Ahlgren et al, US Patent 8,017,2011)
Recent US Patents
9/13/2011
8,017,231
Heat shrinkable films containing single site catalyzed copolymers having long chain branching
Ahlgren et al of Cryovac, South Carolina have developed a heat-shrinkable, thermoplastic film or bag which contains at least one homogeneous ethylene alpha-olefin copolymer with at least some limited long chain branching. Oriented films made in accordance with the present invention exhibit improved processability as well as improved physical properties such as excellent optics and impact resistance. A homogeneous ethylene alpha-olefin with long chain branching may be present in a monolayer film either alone or in a blend or may be included in one or more layers of a multilayer film in accordance with the present invention. (RDC 9/15/2011)