New Ultra-High Barrier PVDC Coating Solution for More Sustainable Pharmaceutical Blister Films
Diofan® Ultra736 delivers an ultra-high WVTR barrier with superior thermoformability and the potential to design thinner, better sustainable blister films.
Diofan® Ultra736
Solvay, an international market leader in specialty materials, has presented Diofan® Ultra736, a new polyvinylidene chloride (PVDC) coating solution with an ultra-high water vapor barrier that permits carbon footprint decrease for pharmaceutical blister films.
As an aqueous dispersion, Diofan® Ultra736 is fluorine-free, satisfies regulatory requirements for direct pharmaceutical contact, and keeps the design of sustainable films with thinner coating designs.
“Consumers and legislators are requesting increased efforts related to carbon footprint reduction from the packaging industry, and one of the most effective means to this end is to reduce the size and weight of packaging products,” says Federico Baruffi, Global Marketing Manager of Packaging, Solvay Specialty Polymers. “Our new Diofan® Ultra736 coating solution can help packaging film manufacturers achieve superior barrier properties with thinner structures, leading to a significant carbon footprint reduction of the blister film.”
Diofan® PVDC coatings are widely used in pharmaceutical blister packaging to protect sensitive solid-dose drug preparations and in packaging delicate food and similar other consumer goods. They can be applied on plastic and paper-based substrates and are often preferred for their unique water vapor and oxygen barrier combination.
Maximize the Barrier
Diofan® Ultra736 PVDC coating was custom-engineered to maximize the water vapor barrier without sacrificing its high oxygen barrier, chemical resistance, or transparency. The product exhibits excellent thermoformability, enabling more miniature packs with higher pill density than incumbent alternative coating solutions.
Thanks to its ultra-high barrier performance, Diofan® Ultra736 permits the reduction of the coating thickness compared to incumbent mid to high-barrier PVDC coatings without impacting the functionality.
In particular, it has been shown that, for Duplex barrier structures, Diofan® Ultra736 enables halving the number of base coat layers while delivering the same water vapor barrier. This approach can contribute to decreasing the overall carbon footprint of final blister film structures by up to 13%.
