DuPont (Wilmington, Delaware / USA; www.dupont.com) and Reifenhäuser Kiefel Extrusion (Troisdorf / Germany; www.reifenhauser-kiefel.com) have developed a peelable, surface printable, multi-layer high barrier lidding film that seals directly to mono-APET trays. DuPont says the film, which combines its PET-based “Appeel” sealant resin with Reifenhäuser’s 11/9-channel “Evolution” barrier blown film technology, seals directly to mono-APET trays even through fat and meat juices.

The co-extruded Appeel sealing layer provides advantages including higher fat barrier, perforation resistance, gloss and transparency, and does not require an additional lamination film on the APET tray, says DuPont. Traditional lidding films have an additional LDPE sealing layer, which is co-extruded or laminated to the APET structure. Eliminating the need for the additional polyolefin-based lamination film is a major cost advantage, the company says. “As a result, trims can be directly recycled, the bottom web costs can be reduced by up to 40%, and the total weight of the tray can be up to 15% lower without loss in stiffness,” it adds.

The new lidding film for mono-APET trays comes with a layer of a printable PA on the
outside, providing the heat resistance required for contact with the sealing bar. This allows for direct printing and sealing of the film without the extra production step of laminating to a reverse-printed OPET layer.