Three new plastic grades have been added to Ticona’s product range for the food industry.
The new Hostaform® C 9021 MD, Vectra® E550i MD and GUR® 4150 MD grades from Ticona are all ‘metal

detectable’ (MD) plastics which can be specifically modified for recognition by conventional contamination inspection systems.

In the food industry, to avoid delivering food that contains foreign particles, detectors are installed in operations that transport or prepare foodstuffs. These systems detect particles that may originate from the production environment, for example from mixers, stirrers, cutters, kneaders or conveyor systems. Upon detection, the relevant articles are rejected.

Food handling operations also need to detect and reject potential plastic residues using existing metal detector security systems. Ticona says that Hostaform POM, Vectra LCP and GUR UHMW-PE are specially tailored for this application area.

The range of Ticona plastics covers food applications from flash freezing through to use at temperatures of up to 300°C. They are approved for use in contact with foodstuffs according to the regulations of American and European authorities including the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and the German Federal Institute for Risk Assessment (BfR). All products exhibit good chemical resistance.

The ultra high-molecular weight GUR also features high abrasion resistance and (notched) impact strength along with heat resistance over a broad range of temperatures. Vectra liquid crystalline polymer provides tensile stress at break and high elastic modulus, while Hostaform polyacetal copolymer offers slip/friction properties, also in combination with metals.

Plastics from Ticona can be used to make slide rails (GUR) and conveyor chains (POM) in conveyor belts as well as baking pans, baking sheets and soufflé dishes (LCP).

Source : http://www.addcomp.com/view/5872/metal-detectable-plastics-for-food/