TECHNOLOGY | CAPS AND CLOSURES
of 15% were achieved. In a further example, an Elion 3200 with a 72-cavity mould produced 26 mm light water caps weighing 1g. Energy savings of 18% resulted.
Need for performance In the caps and closures market, Husky Technolo- gies says that demand for high performance solutions is extremely strong with beverage brands looking for a number of key attributes. “The market is looking for high performance,” says Michael White, Director, Business Development Closures. “The closure needs to satisfy a variety of perfor- mance criteria to ensure it will perform. Such performance criteria include carbonation retention, acceptable opening and removal torques, and various sealing and impact tests. Ease-of-use is important, particularly in the case of tethered closures where brands are demanding that the tethering mechanism is intuitive, simple-to-operate, and capable of shell locking.” He says: “As new neck finishes are standardised in
Right: Bericap has developed ClipAside, a tethered cap solution
developed for compliance with EU Directive 2019/904
the market, there is a need for new closure designs. Offering a compatible and high-performance closure design at neck finish launch can provide brand owners with a competitive advantage in terms of speed-to-market. Finally, an ability to customise minor features of the design provides the brand with the ability to further differentiate on the store shelf, for example knurl pattern and logo integration.” White highlights other main market trends for plastics caps and closures, including the continu- ous move towards more sustainable packaging through lightweighting to reduce plastic usage and the tethering of closures to increase the recycling rate. As caps lose weight, the need to maintain performance increases. For example, the GME30.40 is the new substitute for the PCO1881 finish. Market requirements demanded a higher performing and lighter weight dispensing system. As a result, the GME30.40 has lighter weight and higher carbonation requirements. Tethering legislation will likely spread to other jurisdictions other than the EU in coming years, according to Husky. Chal- lenges associated with tethering include: l Achieving weight neutrality compared with the non-tethered variant.
l Achieving shell locking capability. l Ensuring intuitive operation. Premiumisation and differentiation are also
resulting in larger grip zones to improve ease-of- use, as well as increased closure height to enhance the perception of the package as a premium product offering.
42 INJECTION WORLD | April 2023
www.injectionworld.com
Consumers are also highly focused on hygiene and safety, and the need for protection. “There is a heightened awareness of hygienic options available for beverage packaging,” says White. “Consumers are looking for packaging to provide a reduced risk of virus contamination. The re-seal ability of the PET plastic bottle and closure option is a solid hygienic alternative that provides a reduced risk of viral contamination. In addition, a tamper evident band can provide a quick visual clue to identify a product that has been tampered with.” One of Husky’s latest developments is a 128- cavity HyCAP beverage closure tooling option, introduced to address a market need for an extremely high output total closure manufacturing system. This solution moulds a 26/22 water closure with a per hour output of more than 220,000 units. The 128-cavity mould follows the same design guidelines as the rest of the company’s tooling range to ensure a robust moulding solution that produces a repeatable part with optimal quality. Global provider of hot runner solutions Heatlock
says that caps and closures are a multi-purpose criti- cal packaging solution that are a big and growing market. “Current trends are environmental such as the use of challenging sustainable bioplastics, biodegradable and recyclable resins, as well as one-piece designs, and we intend to grow with the market,” says Thomas Kjellberg, Director Global Application Engineering. “Energy and sustainability issues are also driving heater development to save energy, but which also works well. Future develop- ments will continue to focus on energy and resin savings, as well as improved part quality.” Heatlock’s Straight series nozzles are the company’s latest development in hot runner heating technology. Kjellberg adds that the heat profile is extremely straight through the nozzle. This
IMAGE: BERICAP
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