Heat shrinkable laminated film

The present invention relates to a heat-shrinkable laminated film comprising a mixed aliphatic polyamide resin layer (A) comprising aliphatic polyamide resins mixed with each other in a specific ratio and a mixed resin layer (B) comprising a saponified ethylene-vinyl acetate copolymer (hereinunder referred to as "EVOH resin") as the main constituent.

Most of fatty food such as raw meat and processed meat have irregular shapes and are not uniform in size. For packaging such foods having various shapes a shrink packaging method using heat-shrinkable films is industrially adopted. General procedures of this method consist of the steps of inserting an object into a bag of a film, removing the air from the bag under vacuum, sealing the opening part of the bag, and heating the bag so as to heat shrink the film and bring the film into close contact with the content, thereby obtaining a package with a fine appearance. In this method, the heat treatment also serves to sterilize the contents and is ordinarily carried out at a temperature of 70 to 120°C.

The film used for such shrink packaging must have excellent in gas barrier properties and adhesiveness, and shrink sufficiently when heated with hot water or hot air of 70 to 120°C.

EVOH resin film having a high gas barrier property is considered to be suitable for use as shrink packaging film. However, EVOH resin film having an excellent gas barrier property has inferior stretchability.

To eliminate this defect, various methods have been proposed.

For example, a composite film obtained by bringing an EVOH resin film into close contact with a polyamide resin film and stretching the thus-laminated film (Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open (KOKAI) No. 52-115880 (1977)) and, a laminated film consisting of a polyolefin layer, a polyamide resin layer and an EVOH resin layer (Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open (KOKAI) No. 56-136365 (1981) and USA 4361628) have been proposed.

However, the mere lamination of an EVOH resin layer and a polyamide resin layer does not always produce a film which has satisfactory stretchability and uniform heat-shrinkability.

In addition, although the lamination of a polyamide resin layer is necessary to obtain heat resistance, heat setting by, for example, heat treatment is required since the dimensional stability is deteriorated by lamination, which may lower the workability and production yield.

Accordingly, a laminated film of a polyamide resin layer and an EVOH resin layer not only having high gas barrier property and heat resistance but also being excellent in stretchability, heat-shrinkability and dimensional stability is now in demand.

The present inventors proposed a laminated film comprising of a mixed resin layer of a polyamide resin and an EVOH resin and a resin layer containing an EVOH resin as the main constituent in U.S.P. Application No. 148,569 (corresponding to EPA 277839).

The inventors performed studies in order to improve the stretchability, heat-shrinkability and dimensional stability of a film while maintaining the high gas barrier property of an EVOH resin and the heat resistance of a polyamide resin. It was found that when a mixed resin containing an EVOH resin as the main constituent is used to improve the stretchability of the EVOH resin itself, the gas barrier property and the stretchability are compatible to a certain extent. It was also found that a laminated film having uniform heat-shrinkability, excellent dimensional stability, stable processability and greatly improved stretchability is obtained by laminating a mixed resin layer containing an EVOH resin as the main constituent and a polyamide resin layer obtained by mixing polyamide resins having specific crystalline melting points in a specific ratio. The present invention has been achieved on the basis of this finding.

An object of the present invention is to provide a laminated film having excellent stretchability, uniform heat-shrinkability, excellent gas barrier property and excellent dimensional stability.

According to the present invention there is provided a heat-shrinkable laminated film comprising at least one layer (A) and at least one layer (B) and optionally at least one other thermoplastic resin layer other than a layer consisting solely of a saponified ethylene-vinyl acetate copolymer layer, wherein layer (A) is a mixed aliphatic polyamide resin layer consisting of 55 to 90 wt% inclusive of an aliphatic polyamide resin having a crystalline melting point of 175 to 240°C inclusive and of 45 to 10 wt% inclusive of an aliphatic polyamide resin having a crystalline melting point of from not less than 120°C to less than 175°C, the crystalline melting point of the aliphatic polyamide resins being defined as the maximum temperature of the melting point curve obtained when measuring 10mg of a sample at a rate of temperature increase of 10°C/minute using a differential scanning type calorimeter, and wherein layer (B) is a mixture of resins comprising 70 to 99 wt% of a saponified ethylene-vinyl acetate copolymer, the saponified ethylene-vinyl acetate copolymer having an ethylene content of 25 to 49 mol% inclusive and a degrees of saponification of not less than 95 mol%, the thickness of layer (A) being greater than the thickness of layer (B) or the total thickness of the layers (A) being greater than the total thickness of the layers (B).

The mixed aliphatic polyamide resin layer (A) constituting the present invention is a mixed resin layer comprising 55 to 90 wt% of an aliphatic polyamide resin having a crystalline melting point of 175 to 240°C (hereinunder referred to as "PA resin-1") and 45 to 10 wt% of an aliphatic polyamide resin having a crystalline melting point of from not less than 120°C to less than 175°C (hereinunder referred to as "PA resin-2").

Suitable examples of the polyamide resin PA resin-1 include nylon 6, nylon 9, nylon 69, nylon 610, nylon 612, nylon 11, nylon 12, nylon 6-66, nylon 6-69, nylon 6-12, etc. Among these, polyamide resins having a crystalline melting point of 195 to 240°C, namely, nylon 6, nylon 69, nylon 610, nylon 612, nylon 6-66, nylon 6-69 and nylon 6-12 are preferable from the point of view of heat resistance.

A PA resin-1 having a crystalline melting point above 240°C has a high crystallinity which is apt to deteriorate the stretchability. A mixture of polyamide resins may be used as the PA resin-1 so long as the crystalline melting point of the mixture is in the specified range. The same is applicable to the PA resin-2.

Suitable examples of the polyamide resin PA resin-2 include nylon 6-69, nylon 6-12, nylon 6-66-610 and nylon 6-66-610-12. Among these, polyamide resins having a crystalline melting point of 120 to 160°C are preferable from the point of view of stretchability, heat-shrinkability and dimensional stability.

A PA resin-2 having a crystalline melting point of less than 120°C is inferior in stretchability and heat resistance.

The EVOH resin used for the mixed resin layer (B) is a partially saponified ethylene-vinyl acetate copolymer. The ethylene content in the EVOH resin is 25 to 49 mol%, preferably 35 to 49 mol%, and the saponification degree is not less than 95 mol%. If the ethylene content exceeds 49 mol%, the gas barrier property deteriorates, while if the ethylene content is less than 25 mol%, the stretchability becomes inferior. In order to obtain uniform stretchability, the ethylene content is preferably not less than 35 mol%.

The layer (A) comprises a mixed resin of 55 to 90 wt% of a PA resin-1 and 45 to 10 wt% of a PA resin-2, preferably of 55 to 75 wt% of a PA resin-1 and 45 to 25 wt% of a PA resin-2. If the content of the PA resin-1 exceeds 90 wt%, it is impossible to obtain uniform heat-shrinkability and dimensional stability. On the other hand, if the content of the PA resin-1 is less than 55 wt%, it is impossible to obtain heat resistance and uniform heat-shrinkability.

The layer (B) comprises a mixed resin containing an EVOH resin as the main constituent. In consideration of the gas barrier property and stretchability, the layer (B) is preferably, for example, a mixed resin layer comprising 70 to 99 wt%, preferably, 85 to 97 wt% of an EVOH resin and 1 to 30 wt%, preferably 3 to 15 wt% of a resin selected from the group consisting of elastomers such as a polyester elastomer (e.g., a block copolymer type thermoplastic polyester elastomer) and a polyamide elastomer (e.g., a polyester amide elastomer and a polyether amide elastomer), an ethylene-vinyl carboxylate copolymer such as ethylene-vinyl acetate copolymer (hereinunder referred to as "EVA"), an ethylene-acrylate copolymer, an ethylene-acrylic acid copolymer and an acid-modified graft polymer thereof. The resin mixed with an EVOH resin is preferably selected from; polyester elastomer, an ethylene-vinyl carboxylate copolymer containing 75 to 95 mol% of ethylene and an ethylene-acrylate copolymer containing 75 to 95 mol% of ethylene. When an acid-modified graft polymer of these copolymers or an ethylene-acrylic acid copolymer is used, attention must be paid to the extruding processability. The above-described resins are comparatively easy to mix with an EVOH resin. If the content of an EVOH resin is less than 70 wt%, the gas barrier property is insufficient, while use of an EVOH resin only is apt to make the stretchability insufficient for obtaining uniform heat-shrinkability. The use of 85 to 97 wt% of an EVOH resin is suitable for obtaining the desired gas barrier property and uniform stretchability.

A heat-shrinkable laminated film of the present invention comprises at least the layer (A) and the layer (B), and there may be two or more of each of the layers (A) and (B). When two or more of each of the layers (A) and (B) constitute the laminated film, the resin composition of each layer may be either the same or different. However, in terms of workability and uniform layer thickness, it is preferable that the laminated film consists of only one layer (A) and one layer (B).

The thickness of a laminated film of the present invention consisting of the layers (A) and (B) is preferably 6 to 30 µm in terms of flexibility.

The thickness of a laminated film comprising the layers (A) and (B) and a thermoplastic resin layer is preferably 15 to 120 µm.

It is preferable that the thickness of the layer (A) is greater than the thickness of layer (B), and if the numbers of the layers (A) and (B) constituting the laminated film are respectively two or more, it is preferable that the total thickness of the layers (A) is greater than the total thickness of the layers (B).

If the thickness of the layer (A) is smaller than that of the layer (B), the stretchability of the film is sometimes deteriorated. The thickness of the layer (A) is preferably 1.1 to 3 times greater than that of the layer (B).

The laminated film of the present invention requires at least two layers of the layer (A) and the layer (B), and it is possible to laminate another thermoplastic resin layer thereon in order to provide the film with various properties. As the thermoplastic resin, an olefin resin is preferable in terms of the extrusion property, stretchability and sealing property.

The olefin resin is preferably a copolymer of ethylene and a vinyl ester monomer such as an EVA; a copolymer of a monomer selected from among an aliphatic unsaturated carboxylic acid and an aliphatic unsaturated carboxylate with ethylene, e.g., a copolymer of a monomer selected from among acrylic acid, acrylate, methacrylic acid, methacrylate with ethylene; an ionomer resin; a linear low-density polyethylene (hereinunder referred to as "LLDPE"), a mixed resin of an LLDPE and an EVA; a very low-density polyethylene (hereinunder referred to as "VLDPE") having a density of not more than 0.91 and a Vicat softening point (measured with ASTM D-1525) of not higher than 90°C, preferably not higher than 80°C; a mixed resin of such a VLDPE and a small amount of LLDPE; a crystalline propylene-ethylene random copolymer, a mixed resin of a crystalline propylene-ethylene random copolymer and a polypropylene elastomer (hereinunder referred to as "PP + α"); and a mixed resin of a crystalline propylene-ethylene random copolymer and a VLDPE preferably having a Vicat softening point of not higher than 80°C. The EVA preferably contains 3 to 19 wt% of vinyl acetate. In a mixed resin of an LLDPE and an EVA, the content of the EVA is preferably at least 55 wt% from the point of view of the stretchability. The LLDPE is preferably a copolymer of ethylene with a small amount of an α-olefin having 4 to 18 carbon atoms such as butene-1, pentene-1, 4-methyl-pentene-1, hexene-1 and octene-1 which has a crystalline melting point of 118 to 125°C. The ionomer resin is preferably an ion cross-linked ionomer which is obtained by neutralizing a part of the anions of a copolymer of an α-olefin such as ethylene and propylene and an unsaturated carboxylic acid such as acrylic acid, methacrylic acid and maleic acid or a partially saponified copolymer of said olefin and an unsaturated carboxylate with metal ions such as Na⁺, K⁺, Mg²⁺, Ca²⁺ and Zn²⁺. Generally, the metal ions are Na⁺ and Zn²⁺. An ionomer resin partially neutralized with bivalent metal ions containing a polyamide oligomer is also suitable. A mixture of those olefin resins is also suitable so long as it does not impair the sealing property.

In a laminated film of the present invention, at least one olefin layer can be laminated. If there are two or more olefin resin layers, the olefin resins may be the same or different. The olefin resin layer may be disposed either between the layer (A) and the layer (B), or preferably on one side or both sides of the laminated film of the layers (A) and (B). By laminating the olefin resin layer, it is possible to improve the extrusion property, dimensional stability, etc. and to provide the laminated film with an excellent sealing property.

The laminate of an olefin resin is exemplified by a layer of EVA/adhesive/(B)/(A)/adhesive/EVA, layer of EVA/adhesive/(B)/(A)/adhesive/ionomer resin/, layer of EVA/adhesive/(B)/(A)/adhesive/mixture of LLDPE and EVA, layer of EVA/adhesive/(B)/(A)/adhesive/mixture of VLDPE and LLDPE, layer of VLDPE/adhesive/(B)/(A)/adhesive/VLDPE and layer of (PP + α)/adhesive/(B)/(A)/adhesive/mixture of VLDPE and LLDPE, layer of crystalline propylene-ethylene random copolymer/adhesive/ (B)/(A)/adhesive/VLDPE, a layer of crystalline propylene-ethylene random copolymer/adhesive/(B)/(A)/adhesive/(PP + α). Naturally, the positions of the layers (B) and (A) may be exchanged.

It is possible to add an inorganic additive and/or an organic additive such as a thermoplastic resin, an inorganic filler and a pigment to the layer (A), the layer (B) and the olefin resin layer in such a quantity as not to impair the stretchability and the gas barrier property.

Since the adhesiveness between the layer (A) and the layer (B) is good, no particular adhesive layer is required, but an adhesive layer may be provided, if necessary. In this case, the adhesive layer is preferably provided between the olefin resin layer and the layer (A) or between the olefin layer and the layer (B) so as to improve the adhesiveness.

The adhesive is preferably an polyolefin or an olefin copolymer which has been modified with a carboxylic acid such as fumaric acid and maleic acid. Examples of the polyolefin or the olefin copolymer to be modified include a homopolymer of ethylene, a bicopolymer or tricopolymer such as an ethylene-propyrene copolymer, an ethylene-vinyl acetate copolymer, an ethylene-acrylate copolymer and an ethylene-methacrylate copolymer, ethylene-vinyl acetate-acrylic acid copolymer, and a compound thereof which does not impair the transparency. A thermoplastic polyurethane resin may also be used.

A sealing layer or the whole layers of such a laminated film may be cross-linked by irradiation such as electron beam irradiation, if necessary. Such cross-linking can provide a good sealing property when the sealing temperature is high, but cross-linking is sometimes disadvantageous when sealing at a low temperature is intended.

A process for producing a laminated film according to the present invention will be described below.

A laminate of the layer (A) and the layer (B) is first extruded into a tubular shape so that the thickness of the layer(s) (A) is larger than that of the layer(s) (B) by using an annular die equipped with the same number of extruders as the number of the laminated layers. Laminating the layers (A) and (B) after the layer (A) and the layer (B) had been separately extruded into films, that is laminating them cut of die, is not preferable because the unsatisfactory adhesion of the films sometimes lowers the stretchability. The tubular laminate is immediately rapidly cooled, and the thus-obtained substantially amorphous tubular film is heated. The film is biaxially stretched to 1.3 to 4.0 times, preferably 1.5 to 3 times in the machine and transverse directions, respectively, by an inflation method, thereby producing a laminated film. The heating temperature is not lower than 60°C and lower than 100°C, preferably 80 to 95°C. If the heating temperature is lower than 60°C, the stretchability is deteriorated and the change in dimension is increased. On the other hand, if the heating temperature is 100°C or higher, it is impossible to obtain the desired amount of heat shrinkage. It is necessary that a heat-shrinkable film of the present invention has a heat shrinkage of not less than 10%, preferably not less than 20% in both machine and transverse directions when the film is immersed in hot water at 90°C for 1 minute. If the heat shrinkage is less than 10%, a wrinkle may be produced on the surface of a packaging film or the close contact between the content and the packaging film is impaired, thereby the external appearance of the goods is deteriorated.

A laminated film of the present invention, which is a biaxially stretched film produced by laminating a mixed resin layer containing an EVOH resin as the main constituent and which has well-balanced gas barrier property and stretchability and a mixed aliphatic polyamide resin layer obtained by mixing aliphatic polyamide resins having specific melting points in a specific ratio, can be used as a food packaging film having uniform heat-shrinkability, excellent stretchability and dimensional property.

Since the stretchability of the laminated film of the present invention is excellent, it is possible to obtain uniform heat-shrinkability without the need for excessive stretching and orientation and to obtain practical dimensional stability without heat treatment. In addition, the film does not produce any ply separation during a high-temperature treatment in a sterilization and heat shrinkage process. A laminated film of the present invention also has good adhesion to the contents.

The present invention will be explained concretely with reference to the following non-limitative examples.

Examples 1 to 7, Comparative Examples 1 to 5

Resins shown in Table 1 were separately charged into an annular die by a plurality of extruders, and the laminates having the structures shown in Table 2 were coextruded. Each of the tubular laminates extruded from the die was cooled in a cooling bath of 5 to 20°C, to obtain a tubular laminate having 175 mm in flattened width and 80 to 265 µm in thickness. The tubular laminate was heated for about 6 seconds in a heating bath with the temperature adjusted to the value shown in Table 2 and the heated tubular laminate was stretched to 2.3 times in the machine direction (L) and 2.3 times in the diametrical direction of the tubular laminate. The thus-obtained biaxially oriented film was about 403 mm in flattened width and 15 to 50 µm in thickness.

Example 8

Resins shown in Table 1 were separately charged into an annular die by a plurality of extruders, and the laminate having the structure shown in Table 2 was coextruded. The tubular laminate extruded from the die was cooled in a cooling bath of 5 to 20°C, to obtain a tubular laminate 262 mm in flat width and 95 µm in thickness. The tubular laminate was heated for about 6 seconds in a heating bath with the temperature adjusted to the value shown in Table 2 and the heated tubular laminate was stretched to 1.5 times in the machine direction (L) and 1.5 times in the diametrical direction of the tubular laminate. The thus-obtained biaxially oriented film was about 393 mm in flattened width and 42 µm in thickness.

Examples 9 to 10

Resins shown in Table 1 were separately charged into a ring die by a plurality of extruders, and the laminate having the structures shown in Table 2 were coextruded. The tubular laminates extruded from the die were cooled in a cooling bath of 5 to 20°C, to obtain tubular laminates 133 mm in flattened width and 378 µm in thickness. In the case of electron beam irradiation (Example 10), the tubular laminate was irradiated with 500 keV so as to give an exposed dose of about 6 megarads. The tubular laminates were heated for about 6 seconds in a heating bath with the temperature adjusted to the value shown in Table 2. The heated tubular laminates had been stretched to 3 times in the machine direction (L) and 3 times in the diametrical direction of the tubular laminate. The thus-obtained biaxially oriented films were about 399 mm in flattened width and 42 µm in thickness.

The resins used and their physical properties are shown in Table 1, the structures of the layers of the laminated film obtained and the results of the tests on the properties of the film are shown in Table 2, and the methods for the tests on the properties are shown in Table 3. <tables id="tabl0001" num="0001"><img file="EP0331509B1_D0001.tif" /></tables><tables id="tabl0002" num="0002"><img file="EP0331509B1_D0002.tif" /></tables><tables id="tabl0003" num="0003"><img file="EP0331509B1_D0003.tif" /></tables><tables id="tabl0004" num="0004"><table frame="all"><title>Table 3</title><tgroup cols="4" colsep="1" rowsep="0"><colspec colnum="1" colname="col1" colwidth="39.37mm" /><colspec colnum="2" colname="col2" colwidth="39.37mm" /><colspec colnum="3" colname="col3" colwidth="39.37mm" /><colspec colnum="4" colname="col4" colwidth="39.37mm" /><thead valign="top"><row rowsep="1"><entry namest="col1" nameend="col1" /><entry namest="col2" nameend="col2" align="center">Property</entry><entry namest="col3" nameend="col4" align="center">Method for testing the property</entry></row></thead><tbody valign="top"><row><entry namest="col1" nameend="col1" align="right">1.</entry><entry namest="col2" nameend="col2" align="left">Percentage of heat shrinkage</entry><entry namest="col3" nameend="col4" align="left">10 pieces of 10 cm × 10 cm film were immersed into a hot bath of 90°C for 1 minute in a loose state. The percentage of shrinkage was represented by the average value of each ratios of the longitudinal and transverse lengths of the films to the respective original lengths.</entry></row><row><entry namest="col1" nameend="col1" morerows="3" align="right">2.</entry><entry namest="col2" nameend="col2" morerows="3" align="left">Stretchability</entry><entry namest="col3" nameend="col3" align="left">A:</entry><entry namest="col4" nameend="col4" align="left">Very good (scattering of percentage of heat shrinkage is not more than 3%)</entry></row><row><entry namest="col3" nameend="col3" align="left">B:</entry><entry namest="col4" nameend="col4" align="left">Good (scattering of percentage of heat shrinkage is not more than 7%)</entry></row><row><entry namest="col3" nameend="col3" align="left">C:</entry><entry namest="col4" nameend="col4" align="left">Stretchable but impracticable due to the production of a small necking and nonuniformity in film thickness</entry></row><row><entry namest="col3" nameend="col3" align="left">D:</entry><entry namest="col4" nameend="col4" align="left">Difficult to stretch</entry></row><row><entry namest="col1" nameend="col1" morerows="4" align="right">3.</entry><entry namest="col2" nameend="col2" morerows="4" align="left">Dimensional stability</entry><entry namest="col3" nameend="col4" align="left">The dimensional change of a stretched film of about 1 m long left to stand at 23°C and 50% RH for 2 weeks was measured.</entry></row><row><entry namest="col3" nameend="col3" align="left">A:</entry><entry namest="col4" nameend="col4" align="left">Less than 5%. Practicable.</entry></row><row><entry namest="col3" nameend="col3" align="left">B:</entry><entry namest="col4" nameend="col4" align="left">From not less than 5% to less than 8%. Practicable.</entry></row><row><entry namest="col3" nameend="col3" align="left">C:</entry><entry namest="col4" nameend="col4" align="left">8 to 10%. Impracticable.</entry></row><row><entry namest="col3" nameend="col3" align="left">D:</entry><entry namest="col4" nameend="col4" align="left">10% or more. Impracticable.</entry></row><row><entry namest="col1" nameend="col1" align="right">4.</entry><entry namest="col2" nameend="col2" align="left">Gas barrier property</entry><entry namest="col3" nameend="col4" align="left">Represented by the amount of oxygen permeated through the film at 30°C and 100% RH.</entry></row><row rowsep="1"><entry namest="col1" nameend="col1" align="right">5.</entry><entry namest="col2" nameend="col2" align="left">Crystalline melting point</entry><entry namest="col3" nameend="col4" align="left">Temperature which shows the maximum value of the melting point curve obtained by measuring 10 mg of a sample in the condition raised at a rate of 10°C/min by using a differential scanning type calorimeter (TA-3000: produced by Metler).</entry></row></tbody></tgroup></table></tables>

As shown in Examples 1 to 10, it is clear that the heat-shrinkable laminated film according to the present invention is excellent in stretchability and has uniform heat-shrinkability and dimensional stability.

On the other hand, in Comparative Example 1, the stretchability is insufficient to produce a film having practicable dimensional stability since the laminated film consists of a single polyamide resin layer and a single EVOH resin layer. In Comparative Example 2, although the mixed polyamide resin layer is the same as in the present invention, the dimensional stability is impracticable in spite of having the improved stretchability since the second layer is a single EVOH resin layer. In Comparative Examples 3 to 5, although the EVOH resin layer is the same as in the present invention, it is impossible to obtain uniform stretchability and practicable dimensional stability since the polyamide resin layer of the fourth layer is not in the range of the present invention.