EVOH BARRIER Film

PROPERTIES

Ethylene-vinyl alcohol copolymer or EVOH is a flexible, crystal clear, and glossy thermoplastic copolymer with excellent flex-crack resistance, and very high resistance to hydrocarbons, oils and organic solvents. It also has some of the best barrier properties to gases such as oxygen, nitrogen, and carbon dioxide making it especially suited for packaging of food, drugs, cosmetics, and other perishable or delicate products to extend shelf life. In comparison with many other common films, EVOH has superior barrier properties. However, EVOH loses its good gas barrier properties when exposed to moisture. For this reason and to optimize both cost and performance, it is frequently used in multilayer, co-extruded films like HDPE, PP, and PET, which have superior moisture barrier properties.

Applications

Atmosphere packaging where a certain atmosphere is needed inside the package to improve the shelf life of food products, or in other words, this film is used for fresh produce when minimal permeability is needed. EVOH layers offer very high resistance to hydrocarbon fuels, oil and many organic solvents. This makes this material ideal for applications involving chemicals, such as plastic fuel tanks, chemical packaging and protective clothing. Other applications include pipes, hydrogen fuel cells, medical and pharmaceutical packaging, and agricultural films.