Hollow objects with demanding requirements, including hair spray bottles, paint cans and oil tanks, can now be produced by extrusion blow moulding in polyoxymethylene (POM) following the introduction of “Ultraform” E3120 BM by BASF (Ludwigshafen / Germany; www.basf.com). The company says that in comparison with containers made in PE, POM products display considerably better barrier properties against gases including oxygen, hydrogen and carbon dioxide. The new material, which is now available in commercial quantities, is resistant to many types of media such as alcohol, oil and hydrocarbons and can be sterilised with hot steam.

According to Rainer Anderlik, head of BASF Ultraform Marketing Europe, “Ultraform exhibits a very high melt stiffness which means that it is ideal for processing by means of extrusion blow moulding. Consequently, it opens up completely new possibilities for the production of hollow objects and containers. ”The company claims that because of its optimised crystallisation behaviour, the material offers a wide processing window, so that the blow moulding process can be cost-efficiently automated. The high stretchability of the plastic melt is suited to applications with thin-walled sections.