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“APTRA is a lightweight, microporous film that on its own delivers an extraordinary combination of barrier and breathability,” says Rod McDowell, National Accounts Manager, RKW Danafilms. “And when used in a multilayer film structure, APTRA brings an interesting and unlimited number of opportunities to many marketplaces.”
McDowell explains APTRA has applications across a variety of commercial and industrial segments, including:
• Construction: Moisture barrier, filtration, and sealing
• Industrial protection: Protective and safety garments and biohazard disposable garments
• Medical/hygiene: Gowns, drapes, bedding, and wound care
• Packaging: Food, dry goods, and cosmetics
At the heart of the microporous film’s performance in each of these markets, explains McDowell, is a proprietary extrusion process that yields a highly defined, carefully controlled pattern of particles, the size of which measures less than one-half micron. Such precision lends itself well to medical and hygiene applications where compliance with standards on blood borne pathogens (ASTM F-1670) or viral penetration (ASTM F-1671) is required. Further, certain compositions of APTRA do include FDA-approved raw materials for incidental contact, direct contact, or both, depending on a client's specific requirements and end use.
By the same token, though, this same protection against external forces is critical to APTRA's success in more rugged applications, like house wrap or roofing shingles. Here, repellence to moisture, mildew, mold, insects, and other ambient elements must be carefully balanced with breathability and allowing critical air to pass.
Clearly, APTRA’s effectiveness lies within its carefully engineered barrier and breathability properties. But its ability to excel in any number of applications also relies on being part of a composite skillfully engineered by RKW Danafilms’ extrusion experts. To that end, APTRA can be made part of a variety of multi-layer structures, like spunbond non-wovens as one example, through any number of means of lamination, including point bonding with heated calenders, sonic bonding, heat sealing, and applied adhesives.
Undoubtedly a success, APTRA microporous film technology has achieved the vision to deliver unmatched barrier and breathability in a number of applications, including hygiene, industrial, and packaging markets across the globe.
