Film Manufacturing and Technology Terms

Preventing or inhibiting the build-up of static electricity.

Impermeable to the liquid or gas phases of most chemicals and reagents.

Production of a substance resulting from one operation.

Polymer molecules are drawn or stretched in both the m achine and cross machine direction to achieve maximum strength.

Biaxially-oriented PET film.

Rotating drum that collects the flat sheet of molten polymer as it exits the die and cools film to below the melting point.

Ability of a polymer to withstand cracking, crazing, swelling, or dissolving when in contact with organic fluids or hydrocarbon greases.

Devices assembled into a chain to grip the edges of a web and carry the web through a tenter.

A thin polymeric layer applied to the surface of a film to provide enhanced surface characteristics.

The ratio of the static or kinetic friction force to the normal force.

Mixing molten streams of different polymers from a like number of extruders in a multi-manifold die to produce multi-layer films.

During polymerization, monomers react to release a small molecule such as water.

An uninterrupted sequence of operations, i.e., the melt extrusion process is continuous.

Simultaneous polymerization of two or more different monomers to form a polymer.

The act of exposing the surface of a material to a highly active electric field to modify its surface energy.

Process by which a polymer can form a geometrically regular (ordered) structure to produce a more stress resistant, dimensionally stable polymer than its non-crystalline counterpart.

The decomposition of some polymers by stepwise loss of monomer units in a reaction, i.e. reverse of polymerization.

The physical properties of a material which describe its dimensional response to heat or moisture.

1.) That portion of a web which is removed due to its use as the gripped area during tentering; 2.) That portion of a web which is removed to produce the customer's desired width.

The reaction of an acid with an alcohol to form an ester.

Process by which polymer is propelled continuously along a screw through regions of high temperature and pressure where it is melted and compacted, and finally forced through a die (slit) to form a thin film.

Rolls which nip a web to a fast moving roll set to produce stress for stretching the web.

That property of a web which describes its ability to maintain a planar shape under no stress.

A mechanical assembly of heated rolls, cooled rolls, and auxiliary heaters for the purpose of stretching a material in the machine direction.

Ability of a polymer to seal to itself or to other polymeric substrates when heat and pressure are applied.

High specific-gravity elements such as arsenic, barium, cadmium, chromium (+6), lead, mercury, nickel, selenium, and silver, used in coatings, paints, lacquers in packaging applications, children's toys, furniture, and other industrial uses. The EPA and other environmental groups are evaluating these metals for potential toxic effects in humans.

Process by which a sandwich of film layers are bound together by adhesives, coatings, or other polymers to form substrates with improved physical and chemical properties.

The first assembly of a web into a wound roll after manufacture.

A starting material from which the polymer is formed.

Poly(ethylene naphthalate), a linear polyester.

The ability of small molecules to diffuse slowly through a polymeric membrane.

Poly(ethylene terphthalate), a linear polyester.

PET film.

Liquid additives, such as phthalate esters, used to soften rigid polymers.

A condensation polymer formed by the reaction of a dicarboxylic acid (or its methyl ester) with a diol followed by the elimination of H2O (or methanol).

A large molecule built up by the repetition of small, simple chemical units formed in an association reaction in which many molecules come together to form one large molecule.

Reaction of two molecules to form a polymer; the length of the polymer chain is specified by the number of repeat units in the chain (degree of polymerization).

Material that is recycled from plastic constructions, e.g. bottles and packaging collected from consumer waste streams.

Any substance used in a chemical reaction to detect, measure, examine, or produce other substances.

The degree to which a polymer constricts when exposed to heat.

The property of a material to slide against either a similar or different material as measured by its coefficient of friction against that material.

The portion of a tenter designed to stretch a material in the transverse direction.

The measure of the initial resistance of a material to longitudinal stretching.

The load required to break a material by longitudinal stretching.

A device for gripping the edges of a moving web to support the web during heating and stretching operations.

Ability of a polymer to maintain its physical properties when exposed to high temperatures.