Everything You Should Know About Stretch Wrap

Many businesses in the food, shipping, construction, and other industries must handle, store, and ship their products properly. Failure to transport them safely, after all, will only lead to costly damages to the items. It can likewise ruin their reputation with their clients or customers.

One necessary process that they should do to maintain proper handling, storage, and shipment of products is strapping. Strapping is the application of strapping materials to products that must be bundled together. It is also done to reinforce cartons and secure items during transport. Through this process, the items will remain as stationary as possible. It can also prevent injuries that may be acquired when loading or unloading the items from one place to another.

Many strapping options can be utilised in bundling, shipping, and storing products. One of the strapping options that are popular today is a stretch wrap.

An Overview of Stretch Wrap

Stretch wrap is a highly stretchable plastic film strapping option made from linear low-density polyethylene. Due to the excellent elastic recovery of polyethylene, it can effectively help the stretch wrap to secure the products throughout their shipment and storage phases. The stretch wrap can likewise minimise load tempering, reduce product loss, eliminate wasteful expenses, and lessen injuries.

And since products that are being shipped may differ in size and dimensions, manufacturers have come up with stretch wrap options that boast varying widths, thicknesses, and types. Two common types of stretch wrap that businesses use today are cast stretch wrap and blown stretch wrap.

Cast vs. Blown Stretch Wrap

Cast stretch wrap is a type of stretch wrap created out of the cast extrusion process. The cast extrusion process is a process wherein a thermoplastic material is melted and extruded by a flat die into a chill roll. The material is then quenched and re-solidified. This process allows the stretch wrap to have improved clarity, low stretch force requirement, and increased tear resistance.

When compared to blown stretch wrap, cast stretch wrap is less expensive. It can also unwind more quietly and wrap products more stably. This stretch wrap option, however, does not provide the holding power of blown stretch wrap. It likewise has less tear-resistance and memory than its counterpart.

Blown stretch wrap, on the other hand, is manufactured through the blown extrusion process. The blown extrusion process is a process wherein the material is vertically extruded with an annular slit die. This step helps the material generate a thin-walled film tube. Air is then generated from an opening in the die to fill out the film tube. The film will then be cooled by an air ring.

This process ensures that the blown stretch wrap can be more robust and more resilient than the cast stretch wrap. It can likewise achieve better load holding power, tear resistance, stretch capacity, and stretch memory. It can be, however, costly and noisy.

Choosing the Right Option

Cast and blown stretch wrap options have distinct qualities that make them effective in specific applications. Checking their film memory, film yield, load retention, puncture resistance, visual clarity, unwind noise, and other factors can help business owners like you choose the best stretch wrap. If you need some help, you can contact us at Westside Packaging Systems Australia.

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