Borouge launches three innovative products for rotomoulders, hygiene, medical, impact protection and furnishing applications

Borouge reaffirmed its commitment to become the preferred supplier of polyolefins in the Asia Pacific and Middle East markets with three new products sourced from owner Borealis in Europe targeted at rotomoulders, hygiene & medical product manufacturers, and impact protection & furnishing application developers.

New Borecene Compact™ powder grades offer unique opportunities for intricately shaped rotomoulded applications

Two new Borecene Compact™ PE grades have been introduced to meet rotomoulders’ needs for polyethylene (PE) resins that provide enhanced flow properties, as well as improved economics and handling. The new grades, which use a unique patented technology eliminating pellet grinding, offer significant advantages for technical products used in high performance applications such as parts for the automotive industry with intricate shapes. Borecene Compact’s enhanced flow characteristics deliver excellent wall thickness distribution and surface appearance.

• Black Borecene Compact RM 8346-9004 represents a step advance in Borecene technology, particularly in respect of flow in complex moulds with narrow spaces and threads, and replaces Borecene Compact grades RM8346 and RM8346RC. The main application for this new grade will be diesel fuel tanks, where its barrier performance is superior to standard linear and crosslinked resins.

• A new natural colour Borecene Compact grade RM8346-1000 provides extra high UV resistance. This will replace RM8343RC and is an ideal fit for natural diesel fuel tanks, as well as other natural colour products or products that are to be dry-colour pigmented such as toys, boats and marine applications. RM8346-1000 will carry the same excellent diesel fuel barrier performance as the black version above.

Introduced in 2002, the Borecene Compact family was the first-ever black polyethylene in a form that completely eliminates pellet grinding. This provides for a dust-free working environment, higher product quality and improved consistency, including better carbon black homogenisation. And, as its name suggests, Borecene Compact has increased bulk density and therefore takes up less volume, making its transport and storage more efficient. It enables rotomoulders to improve productivity through shorter cycle times and it gives improved dry-flow for easier mould filling, narrower particle size distribution to achieve a better surface finish with fewer wall bubbles, and enhanced mechanical properties in the finished product.

Upgraded Borflow™ provides an improved liquid barrier solution for hygiene and medical applications

The upgraded range of its Borflow™ low viscosity polypropylene (PP) homopolymers has set a new standard in barrier performance for meltblown, nonwoven applications such as diapers and medical gowns. The new products, designated Borflow HL604FB, HL608FB and HL612FB, answer a growing demand from meltblown producers for more process-friendly plastics and from consumers with young infants, for diaper products that provide better liquid barrier (hydrohead) properties.

The upgrading of its Borflow polymers enables the production of a more homogenous web, thereby significantly improving barrier performance. In Spunbond-Meltblown-Spunbond (SMS) composite structures, such as diapers, the new Borflow grades have the potential to increase hydrohead.

This step change in barrier properties enables producers to go into more advanced applications and/or reduce the thickness of the meltblown layer which makes the total nonwoven structure softer. Alternatively, meltblown webs for applications not requiring an enhanced hydrohead level in the meltblow web can be produced at the same quality level with improved production efficiency using upgraded Borflow.

The new Borflow product family also delivers other benefits for producers. Generating a significantly lower level of fumes and volatiles, use of the new Borflow meltblown grades results in reduced die-deposits and die hole blocking. An improvement that saves downtime and maintenance costs and extends die productive life, as well as contributing to greater consistency of meltblown quality.

The three new advanced Borflow grades, HL604FB, HL608FB and HL612FB, offer different Melt Flow Rates (MFR) and fibre diameters to satisfy a broad range of application needs, and specific properties required.

Borflow is a family of low viscosity polypropylene homopolymers for the manufacture of meltblown nonwovens. Their very high MFR and narrow molecular weight distribution ensure the production of ultra-fine fibres. These microfibres create a meltblown web with very small pores, which enhance barrier properties in hygiene and medical applications. Small pore size also delivers high filtration efficiency and creates high pore-volumes to absorb large quantities of liquid in wipes and sorbents. Borflow products are well established in the meltblown market and producers appreciate their pelletised form, which provides good product consistency and easy and safe handling.

A new Daploy™ polypropylene ‘soft foam’ solution for impact protection and furnishing applications

To meet the growing consumer demand for higher performance in soft foam applications ranging from automotive seating and impact cushioning, to sport shoe construction and protective packaging, Borouge has introduced Daploy™ WB260HMS, high melt strength polypropylene (HMS-PP).

Daploy WB260HMS represents a breakthrough in high melt strength PP development. It has been designed to capitalise on the excellent temperature and chemical resistance, and strength of polypropylene, while overcoming the stiffness of HMS PP that has previously excluded their use for the production of soft foams.

This advance in PP technology positions Daploy WB260HMS as a highly competitive material in applications currently dominated by polyurethane, polyethylene and PVC foams, giving designers and original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) in the automotive, sports/leisure, furnishing and packaging industries a wider choice in tailoring final soft foam properties to meet specific end user requirements.

Many existing PP foam applications are based on blends of standard HMS-PP with metallocene polyethylenes, thermoplastic olefin elastomers and ethylvinyl acetates. These can now be replaced by Daploy WB260HMS as a single material, or in blends with other grades of PP to make an all-PP product. Daploy WB260HMS makes it possible to economically produce soft PP closed cell foams with densities as low as 30kg/m³, with properties that cannot be achieved by other polymers serving that market.

Daploy WB260HMS is processed on standard foam extrusion machinery. It has a considerably wider foaming temperature window than conventional HMS grades of PP.

The Borealis proprietary technology in Daploy HMS-PP uses a chemical modification to incorporate long chain branching into the basic polymer backbone. This has the effect of creating a PP with both high melt strength and extensibility which are important for foam quality. At the same time Daploy WB260HMS brings a new level of softness. All products in this family of foamable materials are recyclable and benefit from the other environmentally positive characteristics of PP.

Reader enquiries

Borouge Pte Ltd

Singapore
+65 9154 8175
michele.ng@​borouge.com
www.borouge.com

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Notes for editors

Borouge and Borealis

Borouge and Borealis are leading providers of innovative, value creating plastics solutions. With more than 40 years of experience in polyolefins and using our unique Borstar® technology, we focus on the infrastructure, automotive and advanced packaging markets across Europe, the Middle East and Asia. Our production facilities, innovation centres and service centres work with customers in more than 170 countries to provide the materials that make an essential contribution to society and sustainable development. We are committed to the principles of Responsible Care® and to leading the way in 'Shaping the Future with Plastics'™.

For more information on Borealis and Borouge, a joint venture between Borealis and the Abu Dhabi National Oil Company, visit www.borouge.com and www.borealisgroup.com.

Borecene, Borecene Compact, Borflow and Daploy are trademarks of Borealis A/S, Denmark.