Coating & Laminating The importance of surface treatment
for coating and laminating Kevin McKell, vice president sales and marketing at Vetaphone, explains why failing to prepare oſten means preparing to fail.
C
oating and laminating is a well respected and commonly used technique in flexible packaging for print enhancement and protection, but as with many processes, the quality and effectiveness of the end-product relies on the attention to detail upstream. We know that today’s production environments are very demanding, with the need to run a variety of testing substrates sometimes at very high speeds. This requires specialist equipment and in-depth knowhow from the people who design and manufacture it.
Vetaphone corona treaters are designed to meet the demands for reliability and performance at high-speed, including the challenging specifications required for pull stations. Our systems feature pneumatically activated electrode assemblies that pivot away to allow easy access for webbing up. You can also specify a quick retraction system to protect the electrode cartridge, and this will prolong the electrode’s working life.
Worthen
2796.jpg – Vetaphone’s 1920mm VE1B corona treater installed at Worthen’s plant in Nashua, NH, handles substrates from foam at 10m/min to film at 100m/min without causing pinholes.
than 300 people and enjoying global sales of more than $100m.
If you are running metallised substrates at speeds over 450m/min then our DHP® system will protect the substrate from damage by limiting the current to running only between the electrodes. This also reduces the internal current consumption.
Perhaps the best way to illustrate the value and importance of high-quality surface treatment in coating and laminating is to use a real-life example of how this works in the commercial environment with a case study from one of our American customers.
Worthen Industries is a specialist in the adhesives and coatings market with 15 product lines across five US locations, employing more
The company has a reputation for high quality and keeps a close eye on sustainability via its environmental management system certified by ISO 14001. Products manufactured at the plant in Nashua, NH, include medical films, foams, fabrics, tape, hot melts, custom coated PSAs, fibreglass, and synthetic leather.
But Worthen had a problem – it was unable to produce sufficiently high dyne levels across the range of substrates being converted at the required running speed of the production lines. This created ‘pin-holing’ and the resultant waste of expensive substrates.
Previously, its manufacturing practice across a range of substrates that includes urethane, polyolefin, polyester, woven and non-woven textiles, cross linked foam, and felt, saw Worthen having to slow down production to ensure the quality of the finished product and meet the
requirements of their customers. This resulted in a drop in their efficiency.
The solution was to install a 1920mm wide Vetaphone VE1B Corona unit on one of its specially adapted coating lines. The inherent controllability of the Vetaphone system gave the company the ability to run at speeds from 10m/min with closed-cell foam to 100m/ min with films and fabrics – and all without pinholes.
Worthen is now able to offer quality guarantees to its customers, and the ease of cleaning and maintenance on the Vetaphone system has increased production flexibility at the Nashua plant, allowing the company to develop new opportunities in lamination applications. As I said at the beginning, it’s an upstream process that often determines the quality of the end-product and the operational efficiency.
Xwww.vetaphone.com
20
May 2022
www.convertermag.com
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46
