High-clarity polypropylene dosage caps being launched recently at Interpack benefit from the optic- and process-enhancing properties of Milliken’s next-generation clarifying agent Millad NX 8000. Leading packaging producer Bormioli Rocco is using a new PP random copolymer containing the class-leading additive to make the caps, intended for pharmaceutical syrups.

Bormioli Rocco already has a very wide range of dosage caps, moulded in polypropylene. It plans to shift production of much of that range to PP containing Millad NX 8000 in the coming months. Bormioli Rocco will make the caps in processing facilities at the headquarters of its plastics business unit in Castelguelfo di Fontevivo, just outside Parma, Italy, as well as in Rivanazzano, close to Milan in Italy, and in Saint Sulpice, near Toulouse in France.

The company wanted to improve the transparency of its dosage caps to give the final user the best view possible of the level of liquid inside. It has used clarified PP in the past, but Millad NX 8000 takes it to the next level. In fact, Bormioli Rocco says it has already received positive feedback from key customers.

Not only are the optics of the caps better than before, but Millad NX 8000 also improves the processability of the polymer. Millad NX 8000 allows processing equipment to operate at lower temperature due to its improved solubility in PP.

Using the new clarified PP, Bormioli Rocco says it can make parts that have the same level of haze as crystal polystyrene, but with better mechanical properties. It can also integrate three-dimensional markings into the caps that show up clearly without the need for over-printing, thus eliminating any post-moulding operations.