What is Co-Extruded Polythene?

There are many terms within the polythene industry, which you may have heard, but may not necessary know what they mean. These terms can cause confusion when trying to decide the product that would be best for your application. However, here at mailingbag.com, we aim to make buying polythene as easy as possible.

Like LDPE and LLDPE, co-extruded polythene is a flexible polythene product, which is made using a similar process. When one layer of resin isn’t enough, co-extrusion offers multiple layers of resin ranging from 2 layers up to as many as 13 layers. When the individual layers are extruded, the molecules within each layer are created at different angles. These layers are then formed together to create one multi-layer structure and due to the different directions of molecules, they form to create a stronger and unique product. Imagine it is similar to engineered wooden boards that are made up of three pieces of wood and the grains travel in different directions for added strength.

An application for co-extruded film is food packaging. This material is generally made up of around 7+ layers, with each layer have different properties. For example, one layers might have HDPE resin which provides moisture resistance and another layer might be a LLDPE resin for seal properties and puncture resistance.

However at mailingbag.com, we mainly use co-ex film for our mailing bags. We choose to use co-ex material for 2 reasons, one of which being it improved opacity. Using co-ex film enables you to have a light coloured mailing bag, with a black inside which improves the opacity and prevent people seeing what’s inside the bag as well as being aesthetically pleasing. The other reason we use co-ex material is for the improved strength. No one wants to send out a parcel and the bag becomes ripped causing the contents to be lost. Using co-extruded mailing bags, gives you the piece of mind that they will perform better during the delivery process.

If you would like more information on the services we provide, or have any enquiries, please don’t hesitate to contact our sales team on 0121 270 6252 or email sales@mailingbag.com