Blown polyethylene film for five application families — fresh food, liquid and powder, heat duties, recyclable structures and industrial use. LDPE, LLDPE and HDPE from 15 to 200 micron, widths up to 2000 mm.
Converters rarely come to us asking for “a PE film”. They come asking for a film that survives their fill, their seal, their cold chain or their customer’s shelf. These are the five families we quote most often — each one lists what the film actually has to do, and how we specify it.
Anti-fog film, easy-peel lid film and rice bag film for chilled, frozen and prepared food packs.
Liquid, powder and chemical-resistant films, with seals that still close through contamination.
Hot fill and pasteurisation, plus PE grades that hold a 121 °C retort. Above that, CPP.
PE sealant webs for PE-based laminate designs, PCR content and downgauging.
Heavy-duty sacks and liners, transit and export wrap, and matt film for retail packs.
Fresh produce, prepared meals and frozen food put three demands on the film at the same time: keep the condensation invisible, seal at a temperature that does not distort the pack, and stay clear on the shelf. All three are set in the co-extruded structure, not in the thickness.
| Film | What it does | Typical applications |
|---|---|---|
| Anti-fog PE film | Keeps condensation as a clear film of water instead of droplets, so the pack stays readable and the contents stay visible. The anti-fog additive is dosed to the storage temperature you really use, not to a generic level. | Prepared and chilled meals, cut vegetables and fruit, refrigerated display, frozen food |
| Easy-peel lid film | PE sealant web for peelable lids: the seal opens cleanly and leaves no residue on the rim, but holds tight enough that the pack does not leak in transit. | Cups, trays, boxes and bowls for dairy, ready meals, sauces and desserts |
| Rice bag and heavy grain film | Built for 5–20 kg fills — high composite strength and puncture resistance, still soft enough to handle, with the hot tack and low sealing temperature that heavy bags need. | Rice and other grains, 5–20 kg retail and bulk bags |
| What the film must do | How we specify it |
|---|---|
| Anti-fog performance | Anti-fog masterbatch dosed into the sealing layer, matched to the temperature the pack is actually stored and displayed at — a 4 °C chiller grade and a −18 °C freezer grade behave very differently. |
| Seal initiation temperature | Low-SIT sealant resin in a co-extruded layer, so the seal forms below the temperature that would curl, shrink or cloud the web on your bagger. |
| Optics | High-clarity outer layer with slip and anti-block levels set for your machine speed rather than a generic default. |
| Food contact | Produced under our food-contact production licence and tested to GB 4806.7-2023. Reports are published in our certification library. |
Powder and liquid both attack the seal area from the inside. Powder physically holds the seal faces apart; liquid wicks into the seal before it has set. Neither problem is solved by adding thickness — both are solved in the formulation of the sealing layer.
| Film | What it does | Typical applications |
|---|---|---|
| Liquid packaging PE film | Good bond strength for the lamination and a seal that resists wicking, so the pack holds through filling, transit and storage rather than only at the sealing head. | Juice, milk and dairy, hand wash, liquid detergent, sachets and pouches |
| Powder packaging PE film | Seals through the powder that settles in the seal area — the failure ordinary films show up as leaking bags and rejects on the filling line. | Flour, starch, milk powder, cocoa, seasonings, detergent powder |
| Chemical-resistant PE film | Resists corrosion and puncture from the contents, keeps its seal strength in service, and still seals through a dusty or wetted seal face. | Alcohol, hair dye, disinfectant, agrochemical emulsifiable concentrates |
| What the film must do | How we specify it |
|---|---|
| Seal through powder | Sealant layer formulated for hot tack and pressure through a contaminated seal face — the usual requirement for flour, starch, milk powder, seasonings and detergents. |
| Resist wicking | Higher hot tack and a wider seal window, so the seal sets before the fill can travel into it. Relevant for sauces, juices, milk and personal care liquids. |
| Resist the contents | Grades for alcohol, hair dye, disinfectant and agrochemical products, where a standard sealant would soften in service. |
| Stiffness and print surface | Co-extruded outer layers set the hand feel, the stacking stiffness and the surface your printer has to work with. |
PE is not automatically the wrong answer to heat — it depends on the temperature. We blow PE grades that hold a 121 °C retort cycle, and we cast the CPP grades that take you to 135 °C. Which one you need is decided by the retort temperature and the structure, not by preference.
| Duty | What we recommend |
|---|---|
| Hot fill and pasteurisation, up to about 100 °C | PE. The sealant layer takes the heat while the co-extruded outer layers keep the print, the stiffness and the pack shape. Give us the fill temperature, the dwell and the cooling profile. |
| Steam retort at 121 °C | A 121 °C retort-grade PE film. This is a specification we blow, not a compromise — it is the grade to use where you want a PE sealant on a retort pack. Send us the retort cycle and the pack format and we will quote the structure. |
| Steam sterilisation at 135 °C | Use retort CPP, not PE. Above 121 °C polyethylene stops being the right material — it is exactly what we cast our retort and high-temperature CPP grades for. We would rather tell you now than quote a PE grade that fails your retort test. |
The most common route to a recyclable flexible pack is to remove the materials that cannot be recycled with it — which in practice means going all-PE. Our contribution is the PE sealant web that makes that possible.
| What you need | What we supply |
|---|---|
| PE-based laminate design | PE sealant webs that let a converter keep the structure in one polymer family instead of adding a mixed-material layer — the sealant role is what we supply, and it is usually the layer that decides whether the pack can be designed for recycling. |
| Recycled content | PCR content on reels, subject to the grade and the film contact layer — available on request rather than as a stock line. |
| Downgauging | Co-extrusion lets the same barrier and seal performance be delivered at a lower total micron, which reduces material use and freight weight. |
| Both film and closure | We also extrude the PE zipper profiles, so a PE pouch can be specified with a PE reclosure and a PE sealant layer that are matched before you run the trial. |
Outside the food chain the questions change. Strength, load stability and how the film runs on the line matter more than barrier and clarity — and for retail packs it is the finish, not the transparency, that sells.
| Film | What it does | Typical applications |
|---|---|---|
| Heavy-duty sack and liner film | Tougher, LLDPE-rich structure built for puncture and tear resistance, with the seal strength matched to the fill weight rather than to a generic bag. | Sacks, drum and bin liners, construction and chemical bags |
| Transit and export wrap film | Tough, moisture-resistant film for wrapping goods in transit; additive packages keep the roll from blocking and stop the film sticking to the product. | Export wrapping, pallet covering, interleaving between parts |
| Matt PE film | Matt surface with a strong print and visual effect, good stiffness and a wide heat-seal window. | Sanitary napkin and diaper outer packaging, premium shopping bags, retail pouches |
| Property | How we set it |
|---|---|
| Puncture and tear resistance | Resin blend and layer structure chosen against the failure you actually see on your line, not against a generic toughness claim. |
| Seal strength | Set with the fill weight, so the bag is not carrying a seal that is stronger than the film around it. |
| Running behaviour | Slip and anti-block levels so the reel opens cleanly at your machine speed instead of blocking or telescoping. |
| Additives | UV stabiliser, anti-static, slip, anti-block and matt finishes, dosed during extrusion. |
| Grade | Thickness | Type | Key Features | Typical Application |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| PE-01 | 20-100 um | LDPE | High clarity, easy sealing | General packaging, lamination |
| PE-02 | 15-80 um | LLDPE | High puncture and tear strength | Heavy-duty packaging, liners |
| PE-03 | 25-200 um | HDPE | High stiffness, moisture barrier | Bags, overwrap, industrial film |
The five families above are cut across these grades — ask us which grade and additive package suits your application, and we will confirm the thickness and width. Our 121 °C retort-grade PE (Group 3) and our matt PE film (Group 5) are quoted against your retort cycle or your finish requirement rather than taken from a standard range.
| Property | Unit | Typical Range |
|---|---|---|
| Thickness | micron | 15 - 200 |
| Width | mm | 100 - 2000 |
| Density | g/cm³ | 0.92 - 0.96 |
| Core Size | inch | 3 / 6 |
Values are typical ranges, not specifications. Full TDS with seal curve, hot tack, COF and WVTR is supplied on request for the grade you are evaluating.
Send us your fill, your seal conditions and your converter’s line speed. We will tell you which structure fits — including when the answer is CPP rather than PE.