August 14 2014
Study Underscores Parkinson’s Commitment to Supporting Customers in Their Research and Development of Polymers
Two Parkinson Technologies, Inc. employees have been named as active contributors to a research study that appeared last month in the international technical journal Polymer (Publisher: Elsevier).1 Titled “Machine Direction Orientation of High Density Polyethylene (HDPE): Barrier and Optical Properties,” the paper was authored by Dr. Tirtha Chatterjee, Associate Research Scientist and Dr. Rajen Patel , Fellow at The Dow Chemical Company along with other Dow coauthors. Ken Forziati, Director of Business Development at Parkinson Technologies and Nik Shah, Process Development Manager for Parkinson’s technology labs, facilitated the research that was the basis for the paper.
During the study conducted at Parkinson’s technology labs, blown films produced at Dow’s PackStudios Innovation Center in Freeport, Texas from three different high‐density polyethylene (HDPE) resins were oriented by Parkinson Technologies along the machine direction using either traditional machine direction orientation (MDO) or compression roll drawing (CRD MDO) technology. The stretched/oriented films were compared for their water vapor transport and optical properties as a function of the extent of orientation (or, draw ratio: DR) and directly compared between the oriented and unoriented (blown) films of the same thickness. Contrasted with their MDO‐stretched counterpart, the CRD MDO‐stretched samples showed superior barrier properties and optics.
“Getting this study accepted by such a prestigious journal as Polymer would not have been possible without collaboration with Mr. Forziati and Mr. Shah,” says Dr. Chatterjee. “The blown films were stretched at Parkinson Technologies’ world‐class lab facility after which further fundamental research was performed at Dow. Results of this collaboration should have significant impact in the polymerbased packaging industry aiming for economically and environmentally sustainable solutions to improve end‐use properties.”
Located at its corporate headquarters in Woonsocket, RI, Parkinson Technologies’ labs provide its customers with a fully equipped environment for polymer extrusion, plastics orientation, and melt filtration testing. There, customers are able to evaluate machinery, conduct product and process development trials, produce marketing samples, and perform materials training.
According to Parkinson Technologies President and CEO, Peter Termyn, “When it comes to the research and development of polymers, Parkinson has always offered unprecedented support to our customers, including two state‐of‐the‐art, on‐site laboratories. We will continue to share our technical knowledge and practical experience in the interest of advancing both our customers’ businesses and polymer science.”
1. Chatterjee, T., Patel, R.; Garnett IV, J.; Paradkar, R.; Ge, S.; Liu, L.; Forziati Jr., K. T.; Shah, N.; “Machine Direction Orientation of high Density Polyethylene (HDPE): Barrier and Optical Properties”, Polymer 55 (16), 4102 (2014)
