HP INCFollow

Abstract

High end lamination is a consecutive growing segment in flexible packaging (FP) market. These high value

packages are very much desirable by our customers ‐ the flexible packaging converters, and the brand owners

which want to stand out with their digitally printed colorful flexible packaging instead of the labeled metalized

cans. This growth increases using the ser. 4 printing digital press machine.

High performance FP applications requires to resist various challenges such as high heat sealing, water and

chemical resistance as well as challenge to create retortable products with Liquid Electro Printing (LEP)

technology. Retortable products are required to resist high temperature, relative humidity and pressure

during the retort process.

The solution available today to offer the digital print customers requires adding an additional step in the FP

manufacturing process. A post printing and prior to lamination step, an off line procedure has to be performed

i.e. coating the printed film with a cross linker agent. Polymer cross linking forms chemical covalent bonds

between polymer chains and primer which leads to improvement in chemical and physical properties of the

polymer matrix. By cross linking our primer and ink the flexible package performance is significantly increased

so high performance and even for the high demanding processes of pasteurization and retort can be

successfully performed. This solution requires also an over‐night curing of the cross linker applied in needed

and only then the film can proceed the FP manufacturing steps of lamination.

In current publication we present a single step process (one‐step). Introducing the cross linker agent at the

lamination step procedure of FP manufacturing eliminating the need to add a coating a step to the

manufacturing. By mixing the cross linker with the lamination adhesive it is possible to achieve the LEP ink

enhancement and enable the digital printed FP to resist the chemical and physical challenges described above.

We show that it is possible to achieve the high performance FP applications by cross linking the primer and

polymer resin and lamination process in one step, the anyway needed lamination process step in FP

manufacturing.

Creative Commons License

Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 License.

Download

Share

COinS