7-layer AquaFrost line

BE (Brampton Engineering) is installing two new lines in its Blown Film Technology Center. "We expect bubble up on a new 9-layer conventional blown film line in early spring 2006 and we will have bubble down with a 7-layer AquaFrost® line in late spring," says BE President and CEO Bud Smith.

"We recognize that some processors consider producing 7-10 layer film a complex and sometimes difficult task. We want to remove the mystery and the intimidation from the minds of operators. These new lab lines will give us the ability to train processors to use these sophisticated lines. We have more than a dozen 9-layer lines operating around the world and we want to demonstrate the technology here in our own facility," says Bud Smith.

"Our AquaFrost® customers' lines are booked to capacity and they are making the best film they have ever made – and without the scrap from the cast process. We need to provide trial facilities here so potential customers can understand and see the benefits of producing clear, thermoformable film at output rates that match cast film," says Smith.

AquaFrost® is a downward blown water-quenched process which uses conventional blown film components and an AquaRing® to cool the film. Philip Kwok, Vice President of Sales says, "because of its absolute clarity, thermoformability and barrier properties AquaFrost® film is suitable for applications such as packaging of fresh, frozen and processed meats, cheese, fish, seafood and pasta. On our new AquaFrost lab line customers can run trials to see the advantages of this process. You have to see the clarity of the film to believe it is blown film."

Both new lab lines will be full-scale production lines to allow customers to run experimental structures and to learn about the advantages of multilayer film. At the heart of both these lines will be an SCD-3™ stackable die. The SCD (Streamlined Coextrusion Die), BE's signature product, entered the marketplace in 1989. Its streamlined flow passages on the face of the die plate reduce polymer degradation and residence time. As a result, each layer purges quickly for fast structure changeovers. The temperature isolation between layers allows each polymer to be processed at its own ideal temperature.

These new lab lines will boast the latest in BE's I-Flex™ family of gauge controls, the I-Flex heated lip on the 9-layer and the I-Flex™ Lip on the AquaFrost® line. Line control will handled by BE's own ITALYCS®-4 control system.

BE, based in Brampton, Ontario, Canada is the world leader in the design and manufacture of multilayer blown film equipment for the flexible packaging industry.