Transparent barrier coatings for flexible packagings. Industrial and research activities in Germany

An overview is given on the actual situation for flexible packaging media on base of transparent thin permeation barrier coatings, starting with the German background of environmental aspects and waste management, over the properties of intermediate products up to the influence of the whole processing chain on the performance of the final packaging product. Selected results are shown for PET and BOPP as substrate film materials, oxides of aluminum silicon and magnesium as thin film materials, specifities on the thin film coating process, permeabilities of different thin film materials, for different substances, and, finally, the influence of mechanical loads on the permeation barrier properties of coated substrate films and final laminates which may be used for production of packaging media. An outlook on the industrial development of transparent barrier films is given for Germany