Mylar bags are so-called because “Mylar” is a well-known brand that deals in PET FILMS. At first, in 1984, a company named DuPont first started making PET FILMS, and in 1953 it started making BOPET bags. BOPET bags were widely used at that time. As the word BOPET was less convenient to pronounce, the brand name “mylar” was accepted by the public, and hence, the name mylar bags became common.
Manufacturing of Bags
Mylar bags are made of biaxially-oriented polyethylene terephthalate, commonly known as BOPET, which comprises stretched polyethylene terephthalate. This material benefits high tensile strength, chemical stability, transparency, electrical insulation, gas, and aroma barrier properties. So, BOPET bags became popular with the name “Mylar bags.”
The manufacturing process gets started with a film of molten PET, which is extruded onto a chilled roll, which transforms into an amorphous state. It is then biaxially oriented by drawing.
Clear Mylar
Some questions like, is mylar a metal? Is BOPET transparent? Why are mylar bags shiny and white? Arise.
The answers to these questions are explained by looking into the materials used. Mylar bags are BOPET coated with a thin layer of metals like foil. Therefore, BOPET is transparent separately, but it looks like metal after taking the shape of bags. This makes people believe that it is metal when it is plastic and transparent.
Aluminized Mylar
It is metalized BOPET coated with a thin layer of metal, usually aluminum foil. This is heated and evaporated under a vacuum.
This offers a glossy metallic appearance of foil at lesser cost and weight. Except mylar PP, CPP, OPP, PVC, PE, PE can also be coated with metal.
The benefits of coating plastic films with metal are:
Make film stronger
Enhance barrier properties.
Aluminum mylars are different from aluminized mylars as it is aluminum foil laminated with PET films that are not vacuum coated. These are also known as PETAL.
PETAL is better than VMPET in barrier properties.
Comparison of Metallised PET and aluminum foil
UV light (%)
oxygen (mL/m2.day)
moisture (g/m2.day)
Aluminum foil 6μm
91
0
0
Metallised PET
5
1.2
0.8
PET film 12.7μm
0
465
31
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Foil vs Mylar
Although both foil and mylar can be chosen as packaging bags for food, a few differences are:
Both normal mylar and aluminized mylar are plastic films, but foil is one kind of metal.
The barrier properties of foil are much better than mylar films and the foil is much thicker than mylar films.
Aluminized mylar: 0.00003mm – 0.00004mm
Foil: 0.01mm
Foil is damaged easily by pulling it, but BOPET is much stronger.
Cost-saving when using mylar than foil is why mylar is so popular on the market.
Both show superior performance, but mylar is more resistant to temperature than foil. Also, mylar has chemical stability. Along with these advantages, mylar suffers the disadvantage of being easily pierced, so it is laminated with polyethylene film.
How are Mylar Bags Useful?
Mylar bags increase the storage period of food but will not cost much. Mostly saying food stored in mylar bags means food stored in BOPET bags.
Food storage is a traditional domestic skill and an important industrial and commercial activity in the form of food organization. Food preservation, storage, and transport, including timely delivery to consumers, are important to food security, especially for most people worldwide who rely on others to produce their food. Food is stored by every human society and by many animals.
People used to store food by drying, smoking, and pickling like in the past. It served the same purpose as today’s different from past methods like:
Remove moisture
Isolate oxygen
As mylar bags show the reliable performance of barriers, they increase the shelf life by working with oxygen absorbers and food-grade store buckets. But today, advanced methods like radiations and preservatives are more common.
In the past, items were primarily stored to meet the shortage, but now we do not face shortage so, mylar bags are less used on industrial levels, but at levels, food stored in refrigerators still requires mylar bags.
Mylar bag is ideal storage for cannabis products with less shelf life. It improves the life of the product and preserves its freshness, taste, and flavor for a long time.
Its use is necessary as the cannabis market is flourishing rapidly and there is a big demand for storage to meet the need. As the packaging and storage material is a topic of research by the manufacturers, Mylar bag is a very good choice.
Style of Mylar Bags
We have some options in the style of mylar bags, and that is:
Vacuum bags (3-side seal pouches)
Flat bottom bags
Gusset bags
Stand up pouches
Printing of Mylar Bags
More merchants prefer logo-printed bags for promotion. The effect of printing on mylar bags is exceptionally good and pocket-friendly. Mylar bags are easy to operate packing and delivery.
There are three processes of printing on mylar bags:
flexography
silkscreen printing
gravure
Summary
Mylar bags are the most convenient and pocket-friendly storage product for Cannabis products. It provides the perfect storage material that increases the shelf life of the products. These bags are made up of BOPET material and look like metal due to the thin metal layer coated over the bag. Mylar bags have different shapes that make them more preferred as it is easy for people to store a wide variety of products in them. As compared to foil, mylar bags are more accepted and appreciated. There is also an option of printing over them; this is mostly used for advertising purposes as one can come up with mylar bags with customized logos printed on them. Printing also has different methods as per one’s budget and need. These bags are easy to carry, pack, deliver and manufacture.