Stretch Film is the highly elastic plastic material used to wrap products and secure them onto pallets. It is made from LLDPE and is the ideal material for wrapping and securing loads because of its flexibility. The film’s ability to stretch around corners of products, boxes, and pallets offers increased puncture and tear resistance as well as greater efficiency when applied appropriately. In order for stretch film to have these capabilities, makers of stretch film must add certain elements. Tackifier is an element used in the manufacturing process to add stickiness of the surface of the stretch film. Stickiness is an important trait in stretch film as it needs to be able to cling tightly to the other layers and maintain its adhesiveness as conditions change.
Stickiness is a great feature to have with stretch film, however most stretch wrappers that pre-stretch film, thin it out. As a result, there is less tackifier holding the film together. When there is not enough tackifier or the film is loaded wrong, the film unwinds from the pallet creating film tails. Film tails tend to drag on the ground, get caught in equipment, and more importantly, they unravel on loads and cause load holding failures. To avoid generating film tails, Best Packaging offers machines that can turn off the pre-stretch (which thins the film) right before the film is cut. In doing so, you are guaranteeing the film is thickest which allows the tackifier to maintain its stickiness. For more information on these stretch wrappers or to learn more about stretch film, give us a call at (888) 930 BEST.
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