Scratch behavior of extrusion and adhesive laminated multilayer food packaging films

Scratch‐induced puncture damages on adhesive and extrusion laminated multilayer food packaging films were investigated. Films were tested using a modified standardized linearly increasing load scratch test methodology, ASTM D7027‐05/ISO 19252:2008, which has successfully demonstrated an ability to correlate damages observed in field use of packaging films to laboratory findings. Samples were cross‐sectioned to view the evolution of damage in a layer‐by‐layer fashion to determine any potential weak‐link in the laminate. It was observed that the extrusion laminated film showed both superior scratch performance and superior layer adhesion with increasing scratch load, particularly upon severe film deformation. The extrusion lamination process may be used to produce strong, scratch‐resistant packaging films without the need for additional adhesive layers and the associated health and environmental concerns. Usefulness of the standardized scratch testing for evaluating performance of food packaging films and laminates is discussed. POLYM. ENG. SCI., 54:71–77, 2014. © 2013 Society of Plastics Engineers