Fluorination FAQ:

1. What are the benefits of fluorination?

• Greatly reduce solvent permeation and chemical attack.
• No restriction on size, shape or container manufacturer.
• Eliminates / reduces panelling, product loss and container discolouration.
• Eliminates / reduces odour emission and flavour / fragrance loss.
• Eliminates / reduces loss of active ingredient and interaction of the container with the product.
• All surfaces treated including the inside, outside, neck region, complex shapes, narrow tubes and assemblies.
• Caps and closures can also be treated to eliminate potential weak-spots.
• Safe, cost effective replacement of glass and metal containers.
• Fluoro-Seal is compatible with all polyethylene and polypropylene containers from a manufacturer of your choice.
• Other materials can also benefit from Fluoro-Seal.

2. What applications benefit from fluorination?

Fluorination is especially suitable for the following:

Acetone                                                Agrochemicals

Automotive additives                          Car care products

Cleaning fluids                                     Degreasers

d-Limonene                                          Essential oils

Flavours / Essence concentrates        Fragrances

Fuels                                                    Insecticides

Lubricants                                            Paint thinners

Polishes                                                Solvents

Toluene                                                 Waxes

Wood preservatives 

3. What can be fluorinated?

Everything that isn't already fluorinated will fluorinate, but the material has also to be fluorine compatible and give sufficient benefit to make the process commercially worthwhile.

Any polyolefin fluorinates very well, but in addition to HDPE, LDPE, PP and UHMW-PE a variety of other materials, such as thermoplastics, rubbers and elastomers gain significant benefit from fluorination.

4. What is fluorination?

Fluoro-Seal is a conversion of the surface of the plastic containers by reaction with fluorine gas under highly controlled conditions to dramatically enhance resistance to solvents and aggressive chemicals.

5. What levels of fluorination are available and which should I choose?

Bettix Ltd offer a number of standard levels of fluorination and a host of customer specific levels. The choice of which level of fluorination is dependent on the application and a host of other variables. For this reason, we always strongly recommend product testing to establish the correct fluorination treatment level required for your particular application. To this end, we offer a free-of-charge sample treatment service and technical advice. Please contact our sales team to discuss your container problems, and we will suggest which levels to try.

6. How is fluorination performed?

Items to be treated are sealed in a vacuum autoclave on our Bolton site and exposed to measured amounts of elemental fluorine gas under tightly controlled conditions. Following treatment, the autoclaves are evacuated to high vacuum and purged with filtered fresh air to ensure the removal of all reaction residue.

7. How long does the treatment last?

The fluorinated layer is not a coating or lacquer; it is a chemical conversion of the existing surface and as such is atomically bonded to the parent plastic. The treatment is permanent and the layer is not readily removable nor does it become unbound with time. The fluorinated layer would have to be removed by mechanical abrasion to destroy the surface.

8. How is a container checked for fluorination and what quality control is in place?

A test piece is taken and put into every treatment and its fluorination status is checked using FT-IR infra-red photo spectroscopy.

Records of every test are maintained against reaction number and date, along with a full production log, and a certificate of conformity is issued with every order. 

9. What containers fluorinate the best?

The rules for fluorination performance are as follows:

• Highest density HDPE (including any masterbatch)
• Natural
• No anti-stats
• Very low stearates

These parameters result in the best performance for a given level of fluorination, however, that does not mean that other containers or materials can't be fluorinated.

10. Can pigmented containers be fluorinated?

Yes, just about every colour of bottle has fluorinated successfully. There can be a slight bleaching of certain colours and so sample testing is important. It should be remembered that the optimum performance is obtained from natural unpigmented plastic, and so container colour may become a consideration for particularly challenging packaging applications.