For many flexible packaging applications, the use of a single material may not satisfy all of the properties demanded of the product. In these cases, a composite consisting of two or more layers of material may provide the desired performance. A particularly common means of creating such a composite is to laminate films to other films, foils, and papers.
Solvent-based lamination is a mature lamination technology and the leading lamination process in China’s flexible packaging printing industry. Solvent-free lamination is a green compounding technology, which represents the future development direction of the compounding process and has been widely used in some developed countries and regions.
So what are the differences between the two lamination methods, and what types of packaging are they used for?
Brief Introduction of Solvent-based Lamination
The solvent-based lamination is a process in which a solvent-based adhesive is applied to a layer of film, dried in an oven, and then hot-pressed with another film to form a composite film. It is suitable for various substrate films, with a high degree of freedom in substrate selection, and can produce composite films with various excellent properties, such as heat-resistant, oil-resistant, high-barrier, chemical-resistant films, etc.
Brief Introduction of Solvent-free Lamination
The solvent-free lamination packaging film is a method in which a solvent-free adhesive is applied to one substrate and bonded to another substrate under pressure.
The difference from solvent-based lamination is that there is no organic solvent is used and no drying device is required. It has the following advantages:
● Avoid environmental pollution caused by the volatilization of organic solvents.
● Solvent-free lamination prevents residual solvents from polluting the contents of the package or causing a peculiar smell, making food packaging safer, and suitable for compounding products with high safety and hygiene requirements such as food, medicine, and maternal and child products.
● The composite base material will not easily cause film deformation due to solvents and high-temperature drying and heating, making the dimensional stability of the packaging film better.
● High production efficiency, low energy consumption, small amount of glue, and small staffing make solvent-free lamination have significant overall cost advantages.
● There are no safety hazards such as explosion and fire, which are of great significance to the life safety of operators and the property safety of production enterprises.
These two methods of lamination packaging film have their own advantages. The solvent-free lamination process cannot achieve the same effect as solvent-based lamination in terms of composite structure, type of contents, and special purposes, but it can replace dry composite in most cases.
Post time: Jun-05-2024