7

Blown film

OVERVIEW
The technology of TP blown tubular plastic film extrusion originated in 1933. The patent then granted to the Norddeutschen Seekabelwerke AG, Germany, included and was related to extruding PS in tube form, followed with longitudinal and/or transverse stretching at certain temperatures. It used a stretching device or spreader fitted to the core of the die. The product was used by the electrical industry. New applications developed via USA for plastic film when PE became commercial during 193945 [370]. The markets that opened and continued to expand included packaging, agriculture, horticulture, building and construction, medical, geomembrane, and so on; practically all markets worldwide [192,198,264, 3881. Thermoplastic films are formed by extruders using circular dies for blown tubular single-layer (Figs. 5.4 and 5.22) and multiple or coextrude (Fig. 5.37), flat dies for flat films, calendered films, and other processes, such as solvent casting, chemical conversion, and skiving from solid rolls. Films are distinguished from sheets in the plastics industry by their thickness. A web (film) under 0.254mm (10mil) thick is usually called a film. However, under 0.10 mm (4 mil) is also used for film by certain parts of the industry. The 0.lOmm (4mil) thickness tends to be more used in the packaging industry. Materials over these dimensions are called sheets. More plastics have been going through blown film lines than any other extrusion lines (Figs. 1.4, 7.1, and 7.2). In this process, the die is usually side fed from an extruder. The melt exiting from a circular or ring orifice is air inflated to the required diameter as it moves vertical. The inflated film is then usually cooled through air cooling, with size controlled by the die and cooling ring sizes, by internal air pressure, and take-off speed. The blown film is directed usually vertically through several guide rolls (different devices are used, for example Fig. 7.3) to keep it aligned with the

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Blown film

Collapsing Frame

Roll of Film

Hm oe

Front View

Side View

Angle A' Distance D, in Edge E . in Center C . in C>E. %

22 20 20% 21% 5

11 5% 40 80 40% 80% 40% 80% 1% 518

(b)

Figure 7.1 Basic vertical-up blown film line; geometry of collapsing bubble.

Overview

307

Figure 7.2 Schematic of line with flat slat collapsing frame.

machine. After a few meters (yards) of free suspension, the film is flattened via some type of collapsing device that directs the flattened film through pressure controlled nip rolls. The rotating speed of the nip rolls is a major tool for controlling the rate with which the bubble is drawn. While collapsing frames appear simple in concept, refinements in geometry and materials have brought improvements in melt quality. Traditional aluminum rollers tend to transfer heat too readily, which is a major cause of bagginess. Wood does an excellent job in certain applications, such as HDPE. Depending on the film being produced, rollers can be covered with materials ranging from woven glass fibers to different plastic material constructions in order to reduce friction, heat transfer, and surface abrasion. The rolls sometimes include liquid and/or air cooling systems. At the end of the line, winder technology allows the selection of surface winding, center winding, and a combination of surface/center winding to suit the film being run, as illustrated in Fig. 7.4 where a Battenfeld Gloucester (B-G) complete line is shown. They may be wound directly as a layflat tube (Fig. 7.41, slit at both sides and wound into two flat reels, very wide film slit on one side (so that it can be opened with a visible line

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Blown film
I

II

I
I

Figure 7 3 Sizing basket featuring motorized adjustment of height and width. .

due to the fold ), or other constructions, such as an in-line grocery bag line (Fig. 7.5). Small to large high-performance winders are required to ensure the quality of the film rolls and provide trouble free down-stream conversions. Operating are at least 20 cm (8in) screw extruders with 800 hp drive, 2.25m (7.5ft) die (actually referring to the orifice or gap diameter), 15m (50ft) flat (opened) PE film, with an output of at least 2300kg/h (50001b/h). Output rates are usually 3.2-9kg/h (7-201b/h) per 2.54cm (lin) of die orifice circumference. Lines producing wide film have line speeds of at least 600m/min (2000ft/min).

Overview

309

Figure 74 Blown fl line rolling with a lay-flat tube on winder. . im

Trapped air that forms the continuous tube is directed through a mandrel via the die. Once the bubble has been formed, the controlled air pressure required to keep the bubble stable is kept constant. Usual pressure is 1.1 m3/min (40ft3/min). As the hot tube/melt leaves the die, a cooling system is used to uniformly cool the melt. This cooling action has a major influence on the bubble thickness and uniformity. The usual dual- or three-chamber/lip cooling air ring, located outside the bubbles as it exits the die, has air streams gently cooling the bubble (Fig. 7.6). To speed up lines and improve output performances, internal bubble cooling (IBC) systems are extensively used (Fig. 7.7). They direct cool air at low velocity to enter and exit the inside of the bubble.

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Blown film

Overview

31 1

I R8
I _

'__. .
x_

_I

__-

SlNQLE UP

DUAL LIP

Figure 7.6 Comparison of single-chamber and dual-chamber air rings for cooling blown film.

P -

stabilizing cone Hot air exhaust

Y
Figure 7.7 Example of internal bubble cooler.

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Blown film

The bubble diameter is normally always greater than the die diameter. This bubble diameter divided by the die orifice diameter is called the blow-up ratio (BUR) (Fig. 2.20). The bubble diameter must not be confused with the width of the flattened double layer of film between the nip rolls. The width of this double layer is 1.57times the bubble diameter and called the blown-film width. The blow-up ratio can be determined by taking 0.637 times the lay flat width divided by the die diameter. Extrusion direction can be (rarely used) horizontal. The usual direction is vertically upwards or vertically downwards. The choice of direction usually depends on the type or melt behavior of the plastic and the desired layflat width. Thermoplastic with low melt viscosity is usually blown vertically upward. The more popular systems are verticals. As a possible guide (sinceplastic melt strength performance dictates direction), tube diameters up to about 100 cm (40 in) go downward; tubes of greater diameter go upward. In the horizontal direction, the less viscous plastic expansion zone cannot easily be stabilized with the usual cooling rings. This problem is caused by the abrupt change from the melt to the solid condition that results in stress differences between the underside and upper side of the tube because of the unbalanced thermal conditions. It is also not easy or usually practical to go horizontal for tubing over 15-20 cm (6-8 in). However, this system can provide lower initial cost, high output rate, and rather simple operation. Horizontal operation entails no overhead installation and a low building height, but requires a larger floor space with probable adverse effects of gravity and uneven cooling. Vertical down operation has the advantage of start-up without flooding of the annular die gap by exiting hot melt. The vertical-up operation is the usual method, provided sufficient melt strength exists for any upward startup. Special die heads are designed, such as with a multiple threaded discharging into an expansion space. The tubular melt assumes its final shape in a smoothing-out zone, which is a cylindrical land in a parallel position between the mandrel and the orifice. Its length is about 10-15 times the annular gap width (the lower value applies to the thin film). The gap width is generally 0.5-2.0 mm (0.02-0.08 in). Blown film dies have been developed with the goals of low pressure consumption, easy self-cleaning, material changes, and ease of maintenance. The automation of blown film plants to reduce film thickness tolerances involves the increased use of the newer plastics with more sophisticated process control elements in the complete line from upstream to down-stream equipment (Chapters 3 and 5). PLASTIC MATERIALS Plastic materials can account for 70-90% of film production cost. Therefore any approach which will reduce the use of excess plastics and pro-

Plastic materials

313

duce quality products has always been of importance to the processors. Meeting minimum tolerances will provide major savings. Operating the extruder most efficiently (Chapter 2) is of major importance. Any new technology that reduces scrap, for example during shut-down, is of vital interest to processors [l-4, 3241. As an example, a manually operated modern film line can produce a film with a high degree of homogeneity and finish. The thickness, however, might fluctuate up to 5% due to changes in material bulk density. With on-line weight measurement systems, that continuously measures material consumption through the hopper to the plasticator, thickness changes can be significantly reduced. These gravimetric measurement systems are available that can provide measurement accuracy to 20.25%. Better extrusion technology leads to quality film and offers other advantages, such as easier and faster operating lines, better cost-performance ratios, lower scrap rates, and reduced environmental impact. Scrap rates influence every aspect of from cost to profit for the processor and the converter. The better the quality of the film, the more reliably it can be converted and the lower the scrap rate. Scrap rates can typically run between 3-6% for each stage of a typical extruding/printing/converting processing line. For the total line, the scrap rate could be between 9-18% overall. Regardless as to how one analyzes this situation, there is room for improvement; the lines are continually improving their capabilities with the help of new plastic materials (Chapter 3). In the extrusion process, the major sources of scrap are: (1) edge trim which is usually granulated and recycled with virgin plastic at the machine; (2) thickness variation not meeting the tolerance requirements that is usually a minimum; and (3) production startups, shut-downs, and changeovers. If a convertor has to use gauge variation materials, the customer usually has a major inefficiency (and is 'upset'). If it can be used so that the converter can meet their delivery schedules, during the conversion the film has to run much slower in the presses, laminators, bag machines, etc. With changeovers film extrusion lines can produce scrap at the rate of 227-454kg/h (500-10001b/h). By the time operator(s) set up proper controls for the production line, it could take up to two hours. In the meantime, scrap is accumulating. By recycling, costs go up for the recycling action and the line has to be carefully controlled if more than the usual amount of scrap is blended with virgin plastics (Chapter 3) 14331. Many TP materials, especially PES, develop a thermal history (Chapter 3) where their properties degrade as they are repeatedly remelted and reextruded. A potential more unfavorable situation occurs when coextruding or by most post-extrusion processes because they might be nonrecyclable. However, there are applications where these mixed-up plastics can be used, such as within the coextruded film, sheet, profiles, fabrication o extruded synthetic lumber, utility poles, and so on. f

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Blown film

There are TPs that are relatively easy to process, such as LLDPE, LDPE, PP, and PETP. Tighter controls are used when plastics such as HDPE, HMWHDPE, and mPE are processed; there are differences such as the bubble shape. HDPE forms a wine glass shape (Fig. 7.8) with a frost line height (FLH) of 6-10 die diameters using Battenfeld Gloucester equipment. The LLDPE has a FHL of 1-2 diameters. The 'high stalk' shape for HDPE is necessary to obtain desired mechanical properties (toughness, flexibility, etc.).An adjustable inflatable mandrel in the tubular film (Fig. 7.9) can be used to increase bubble stability at high speeds. Making films from metallocene-based plastics (mPE, etc.) requires changes/adjustments to processing equipment but those changes can be

Figure 7 8 HDPE wine glass shape. .

Blown tube characteristics

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315

Figure 7.9 Tube includes inflatable mandrel proving structural support for high density film.

made easily and without great expense [421]. With metallocene LLDPE, nip pressure is slightly increased. Down-stream equipment is adjusted to minimize defects and accommodate the softer films (oscillator on turn bars, haul off, cooling water, etc.). Blends of conventional and metallocene plastics produce improved puncture resistance, tear resistance, load holding force, stretch and resistance to restretching, and processability.
BLOWN TUBE CHARACTERISTICS

As reviewed in this chapter (and elsewherein this book), thickness control is of prime importance because it influences properties, amount of scrap,