Renewable or not

Innventia’s research relating to polymer barriers falls into two categories

The latter are the familiar, commercially available barrier plastics, which include vapour barriers and barriers against non-polar substances. Various grades of PE, PP, PS and PET are used as vapour barriers, while EVOH, PvdC and PA can serve as barriers against non-polar substances.

 

Our work with non-renewable polymers primarily involves consulting assignments and contract research. It comprises, in addition to studies of the intrinsic barrier characteristics of plastic media, investigations of hot-tack performance, sealability, multilayer and monolayer extrusion, extrudability of new blends, extrusion coating, compression moulding, adhesion, mechanical characteristics etc.
 

Biopolymers

Bioplastics represent a relatively new category of plastics. They are generally based on entirely renewable polymers and additives. Our work with bioplastics involves consulting assignments and contract research as well as basic research pursued in collaboration with a variety of industry, institutional and university players.

 

A number of degree candidates and interns work with us each year in connection with this research. The findings are reported, as the case may be, exclusively to specific clients or externally at conferences and in peer-review journals. A number of doctoral candidates have also worked with us over the years, and several doctoral projects are currently under way.

 

 

Our contract research and consulting assignments often involve technical evaluation and comparison of commercially available bioplastics and other plastics regarded as being “green” according to some alternative definition. The latter group includes biopolymers that contain significant amounts of non-renewable additives, non-renewable polymer matrices containing such materials as starch, PCL, PVAI and photocatalysts and a variety of grades and blends of PLA.

 

Testing and evaluations are conducted in response to clients’ specific needs with regard to processing, sealing, multilayer systems, etc.