As a packaging manufacturer, you may rely heavily on polyester films in your plant. Linear polyester (PET) film works great for heat-resistant and other packaging applications like flexible pouches, peelable seals, lids, barrier films, can laminations and vacuum insulation panels. Properties that contribute to the film's success include its strength, crystal clarity, high and low-temperature resistance and ease of converting, laminating, extrusion coating, embossing, metalizing, printing, punching, corrugating, dyeing, stamping and forming.

Besides its versatility, PET film ranks among the most environmentally friendly materials offered; it doesn't contain heavy metals or use plasticizers, and it's non-toxic and easily recycled. Understanding the following polyester film processes/terms will speed up your research and ordering time:

1. Slitting lets polyester film suppliers or manufacturers reduce film on a master roll to the width you need.

2. Instead of buying more length of polyester film than you need, go with a company that can rewind off a shorter length of material than provided on the master roll.

3. Many polyester film providers offer lamination, a process that binds together layers of film, resulting in improved chemical and physical film properties.

Action Steps
The best contacts and resources to help you get it done

Understand different treatments added to polyester films

To improve performance of packaging films, consider some of the value-added options available. Corona treatments expose polyester film to an electrical discharge (corona) that alters the film's physical characteristics, making it much more receptive to adhesives, ink and coatings. Metallized films work great as flexible packaging for snack foods since they protect contents from light, moisture and oxygen.

I recommend: Learn more about corona treatments at Corotec Corporation. Find out more about metallized films from Griff Paper and Film, and check out the company's film selection while you're visiting the website.

Find polyester film suppliers that carry what you need

Polyester film suppliers sell to OEM manufacturers, distributors and other industries, and often provide value-added converting services like slitting, rewinding, laminating, hole punching and corner rounding.

I recommend: Find the ovenable polyester packaging film you need at Eastern Web Handling. They provide dual ovenable packaging film and lidding films and non-ovenable applications. Order the polyester film you need from Filmquest, a leading merchant converter and supplier specializing in polyester film. The company stocks millions of pounds of inventory and supplies customers with a wide range of polyester films. It can accommodate most rush orders and custom film configurations.

Order your polyester film directly from the manufacturer

Contact several polyester film manufacturers and you are certain to find several that are eager to do business with you.

I recommend: As you search for ovenable polyester packaging film manufacturers, contact Transilwrap Company for more information on their dual ovenable polyester packaging film, ovenable lidding film, metallized polyester film and other polyester films. In addition to metallized PET films, the company also supplies biaxially-oriented polyethylene terephthalate (BOPET), more suitable for high-demand applications like medical and food packaging. Order polyester packaging film rolls from Toray Plastics, a polypropylene/polyester film manufacturer. Toray, founded in 1985, works diligently to find the most innovative, flexible, quality, value-added and low-cost plastic and polyester film solutions for any application.

Check out patents related to heat-resistant ovenable polyester film

If you work in R&D or you own a small manufacturing company and need background research or want to keep up on technical details and new products/processes, read up on patents issued for different types of polyester packaging film and ovenable polyester film.

I recommend: At PatentStorm, you can read the abstract, claims, description or full text of a patent for industrial heat-resistant polyester film. Use the FreePatentsOnline search engine to learn more about the process for preparation of heat-resistant polyester film.

Tips & Tactics

Helpful advice for making the most of this Guide

• •  Avoid confusion when you see the term Mylar film, which is frequently a generic reference for polyester film or plastic sheets. Actually, Dupont Tejjin Films owns the registered trademark for Mylar, a specific family of products made from the resin Polyethylene Terephthalate (PET).