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Shrink film in India has been in existence for
almost 30 years. Garware introduced PVC shrink film a long time
ago. However, the market for shrink film remained small until the
last few years, mainly because the machinery for film and most importantly
for conversion were not easily available. With greater acceptance
of shrink film as a smart packaging concept for aesthetic appeal
at the point of display and a larger penetration of carbonated drinks
in India, it has now been considered as a valuable packaging product.
On application of heat, shrink film essentially gets shrunk to more
than half of its original width and significantly in length. This
special property of film is achieved by freezing strain during its
manufacture. The frozen strain gets relieved when the film is reheated
beyond its softening point/glass transition temperatures. PVC and
LDPE have ability to achieve excellent shrinkage due to their strong
memory or lower relaxation characteristics. They, therefore, are
the major polymers used for shrink film in India. In fact, Garware
introduced PVC heat shrink film in India.
There are more than 30-40 PVC heat shrinkable film producers in
India spread all over the country. It is estimated that almost 7500
tonnes of PVC heat shrink film is being consumed in India. PVC heat
shrink film has excellent clarity and is very easy to shrink even
with minimal application of heat. In fact, PVC is essentially the
first choice for packaging on account of excellent aesthetics it
can provide on account of excellent clarity and gloss. Its chemical
resistance, particularly to acids is responsible for its usage as
inner tube of leak proof battery cells. PVC, however, does not have
good impact and is therefore not suitable for shrink wrapping of
large industrial products.
LDPE shrink film is ideally suitable for shrink
wrapping of larger objects on account of excellent impact it possesses.
While PVC shrink film has been more developed, LDPE shrink film
has recently seen an increased demand. The easy availability of
shrink wrapping equipments and increasing export of Indian products
have stimulated the growth of LDPE shrink films in India. It is
estimated that almost 3000-4,000 tonnes of PE shrink films are used
in India.
The total market of shrink film in India during
2001 could be as high as 11,000-12,000 tonnes. To achieve higher
shrinkage and better mechanicals, these films are required to be
crosslinked. The crosslinked shrink tubes find special usages like
cable joints and are produced by a few producers as specialities.
Some speciality PE crosslinked films, very well known by Specific
brands like "Cryslar" have excellent and uniform shrinkages
in both directions. The crosslinked shrink films, however, have
lower demand due to their higher cost. Ecological reasons have compelled
polymer scientists to develop an alternate to PVC. Special BOPP
shrink film has been developed with excellent clarity and gloss
to replace PVC internationally. However, there are no local producers
of BOPP shrink film in India until now.
What is, however, very heartening to note, is the increasing usage
of heat shrinkage film as packaging in India. Some of the most glaring
examples of heat shrinkable films are seen as labels of Coke, Pepsi,
Ponds Talcum Powder and Sunsilk Shampoos. These are some examples
but there are innumerable applications that use heat shrink films.
In fact, the growth opportunity of heat shrink film seems to be
quite upbeat. The shrink film in India certainly seems to have penetrated
quite well and is expected to show a growth potential of 12-15%
in the next few years.
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