How to Make Stronger Geomembranes with Greater Durability

Rethinking the Polymer Base Resin: Introducing Enable™ into Geomembrane Formulations

For over two decades, the geomembrane industry has relied heavily on well established HDPE resins such as Marlex® 306 and 307 from Chevron Phillips. These resins are proven performers, offering high tensile strength, stress crack resistance, and durability in demanding containment applications. However, the evolving requirements for flexibility, multilayer functionality, and improved long-term performance now call for more advanced material solutions.

The Next Evolution: Enable™ Performance Polyethylene

Enable™ polyethylene resins—developed by ExxonMobil using advanced catalyst polymerization (ACP) —are poised to significantly improve the performance of geomembranes across a wide range of applications. These materials offer excellent processability, weldability and mechanical resilience, particularly in coextruded multilayer structures.

Key Advantages Over Traditional HDPE Geomembrane Resins

Higher Flexibility
Higher Puncture Resistance
Improved Multi-Axial Burst Resistance
Higher Flex-Crack Resistance
Higher Stress Crack Resistance
Improved Weldability
Lower Risk of brittle cracking in Heat Affected Zones (HAZ)

Applications in Multilayer Geomembrane Design

Enable™ geomembrane resins are especially well-suited for:

Coextruded Geomembrane Films

Used as inner or intermediate layers to:

Enhance flexibility and puncture resistance
Reduce HAZ cracking in cold-weather and hot-weather installations
Maintain welds integrity under cyclic mechanical stress

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MDPE/Enable™ and HDPE/Enable™ Blends

When blended at 10–30%, Enable™ significantly improves:

Stress crack resistance (ESCR) of traditional MDPE geomembrane resins
Flex-crack resistance, particularly in textured liners subject to high local strain

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Specialty Liners and Covers

Enable™ geomembrane grades are ideal for:

Mining heap leach pads (where liner integrity under high loads is critical)
Floating covers and baffle curtains (where flexibility, stress-crack resistance and weldability are key)

Mechanical and Processing Benefits:

Narrow molecular weight distribution = Consistent processing
Enhanced weld strength = Better weld integrity for field seams
Low extractables = Safer for potable water and aquaculture uses

The Enable™ Geomembrane Resin Palette

Improved Processability Offers Multiple Advantages of Enable™ to Geomembrane Manufacturers

Enable™ geomembrane resins produce the best-in-class waterproofing membranes and geomembranes with greater operational stability, higher output, and film downgauging potential. The unique molecular architecture Enable™ geomembrane resins offer more stable processing operations, better gauge control and better line output. In particular, Enable™ PE resins deliver excellent processability and bubble stability in the blown film production of geomembranes.

Conclusions

The integration of Enable™ polyethylene resins offers a major opportunity for geomembrane manufacturers to move beyond legacy materials like Marlex® HDPEs. With their superior flexibility, crack resistance, welding performance and coextrusion compatibility, Enable™ resins support the next generation of stronger, more durable, easier to weld and more versatile geomembrane systems.