AIMCAL Awards | IML DECORATION IS A “10”
Celplast Metallized Products, Toronto, Ontario, captured the Technical Award for its role as the metallizer of an in-mold label for injection-molded tubes of hair care products from It’s A10
Read More...
How we improved metalized film barrier by 10x
An innovative way to improve barrier in flexible films is to lock-in the metallized barrier and protect it from scratches in down-stream processing with a protective top coat.
Read More...
A Look at Stripe Metallizing Technologies
There are many packaging applications where a consumer packaged goods (CPGs) company would like the brightness and some of the barrier properties offered by metallized film, but with clear segments where the customer can see the product too. This is particularly true of fresh foods or produce, where the ability to see the actual product in the package is a necessity. As consumers become more demanding, and CPGs have to fight for shelf space, this is a more and more common request from the marketplace. A cost effective way to produce such a package, with both metallized and clear sections, is by using a metallized web that has clear stripes in the machine direction. This way, depending on how the pre-made pouch is made, or whether the laminated web runs on FFS equipment, the clear stripe can be oriented in the horizontal or vertical direction on the pouch. There are three basic technologies available to carry out one-pass stripe metallizing. The first is using chill roll banding, where metal bands lay on the film as it passes over the chill drum in a drum metallizer. The bands peel off the film after it passes through the metallizing area, leaving clear stripes behind. These bands need to be cut to width, with significant set-up involved to properly align them. There is […]
Read More...
Stripe Metallized Barrier AlOx Pouch Award
AIMCAL Product Competition Award Winners March 2015 Packaging: Nonfood: Marketing Celplast Metallized Products, Toronto, Ontario, captured the Marketing Award at the AIMCAL winter conference. Celplast is recognized for their role as stripe metallizer of high barrier aluminum oxide coated polyester. Other participants in creating the package include converter Prairie State Impressions, Franklin Park, IL, and substrate supplier Camvac Ltd., Thetford, UK. The metallized zippered pouch for Gold Strike Robusto cigars from Swisher International, Inc., Jacksonville, FL combines 48-gauge PET/48-gauge aluminum oxide with stripe metallized PET/2-mil PE. The finished package achieves multiple benefits with high barrier properties and eye-catching graphics. According to Celplast, half of the aluminum oxide-coated PET is metallized. The stripe-metallized film is then laminated to the printed web. High barrier properties of the aluminum oxide allows Prairie State to run a single web instead of two webs reducing material costs by more than 25 percent. The lamination also permits higher printing and pouching speeds for increased efficiency. The resealability feature with the zipper and product visibility through stripe metallizng creates value and great shelf appeal for the consumer. “A 25 percent cost reduction is substantial,” stated one judge. The judging panel also liked the resealability of the package.
Read More...
5 Areas In Which Metallized Film Beats Foil
Looking for ways to increase barrier properties of your package? Here is some factors to consider when it comes to optimizing package barrier and improving production efficiencies. With high barrier metallized films offering barrier values in a range of 0.31– 0.46 g/m2/day water vapor barrier, and 0.31 – 0.46 cc/m2/day oxygen barrier, they can offer several advantages over foil in both production and final package integrity. 1. There is no question that metallized film offers better puncture resistance over foil. From the time the product is manufactured, packed and transported, the package will be flexed countless times and pin-hole and flex-cracking will occur. Though the product remains intact, foil barrier can be adversely affected by content vibration creating microscopic punctures. High barrier metallized films can improve shelf life over foil by resisting these punctures and retaining their high barrier properties. 2. Foil possesses dead-fold characteristics that make creases and wrinkles permanent. Making its way through the various channels to reach the store shelf, a package can look shopworn by the time it is in front of the consumer. Without the memory characteristics of foil, metallized films will withstand this handling, arriving on the store shelf with the fresh and original appearance and graphics intact. 3. Metallized film can run at faster line speeds compared to foil. Typically run at thinner […]
Read More...
FedDev Ontario Invests $2 million in Celplast Technology
New High-Barrier Materials & Product lines Coming in the Future Celplast will bring to market a proprietary manufacturing process thanks to an investment of up to $2.075 million by the Federal Economic Development Agency for Southern Ontario (FedDev Ontario). The funding will be used to purchase a new metallizer machine and have it customized to include proprietary and unique in-vacuum coating technology. This technology will allow Celplast to create a lower-cost film with better barrier properties for immediate applications in the food packaging and industrial markets. FedDev Press Release Link
Read More...
Does metallizing affect the yield or basis weight of film?
I often hear the questions: How does metallizing affect the yield or basis weight of flexible film? What is the thickness of aluminum applied? Even though vacuum metallizing can dramatically improve barrier values, the layer of metal is so thin that it does not alter the yield or mechanical properties of the film. Vacuum metallizing is a process where an alloy, such as aluminum, is melted and vaporized onto a receptive surface. Vacuum deposition takes place in a chamber under pressure well below atmospheric pressure. Unwind and rewind stations mounted in the chamber allow the film to pass from unwind to rewind over the active boat bed area. The aluminum is melted at 1500 degrees celsius and forms a vapor cloud above the boat bed. As the substrate passes over this active area, a thin layer of aluminum is deposited onto the film, creating a barrier layer. The aluminum thickness is measured in angstroms (Å), a unit of length equal to 10−10 m (one ten-billionth of a metre) or 0.1 nanometers (nm) and typically represents less than 0.1 percent of the base film. Generally, metal deposition in packaging applications ranges from 30.5 Å – 500 Å (3.5 – 50 nm). Metallizing a film typically increases barrier values 10-fold over non-coated/non-metallized film, so many people are surprised to learn that such […]
Read More...
Did you know… how Vacuum metallizing works?
Vacuum metallizing takes place in a cylindrical chamber in which the air is pumped out via diffusion pumps to achieve an atmosphere much like that of the moon. Unwind and rewind stations are positioned in the chamber allowing the film to pass from unwind to rewind over the active boat bed area of the chamber, where aluminum is melted at 1500 degrees celsius and forms a vapor cloud above the boat bed. As the substrate passes over this active area, a thin layer of aluminum is deposited onto the film, thus creating a barrier layer. The aluminum coating is measured in angstroms and typically represents less than 0.1 percent of the base film and therefore does not affect the yield or mechanical properties of the base film.
Read More...
Unique use of Stripe Metallizing in produce bag wins Celplast the AIMCAL Marketing Award
March 2014 Packaging: Food & Beverage: Marketing Celplast Metallized Products The AIMCAL Marketing Award in the Food Packaging Category went to Celplast Metallized Products, Toronto, Ontario, Canada, for metallized, light-blocking low-density polyethylene (LDPE) bags for four varieties of potato from EarthFresh Farms, another Toronto-based firm. Celplast metallizes 1.25- or 1.75-mil LDPE from Tempo Plastics Ltd., Innisfil, Ontario, and returns it to Tempo for conversion into wicketed bags. Stripe metallizing provides product visibility while blocking most of the light that would reach the potatoes in a standard poly bag. Eliminating light exposure prevents the potatoes from turning green (and bitter) and more than triples shelf life to 21 days. Bags are punched with two parallel rows of ventilation holes and printed with bilingual product and brand information as well as alternate serving suggestions. Color coding identifies Roasting (gold), Boiling (green), Baking (red) and Mashing (blue) potatoes. Judges Comments Judges noted potato bags tend to be heavier gauge film or woven. “We really haven’t seen anything like this for fresh potatoes,” said one member of the panel. “It opens the door to greater use of metallized packaging in the produce department,” predicted another.
Read More...
Barrier Packaging in the Real World
Two trends are driving much of the innovation in laminations using metallized film today. Sustainability has become a key driver for companies in the packaging and converting industry and it is a major area of focus for consumers, retailers, brand owners, converters and legislators. It has become apparent over the last few years that this is not a trend but a core belief and means of reducing costs throughout the packaging industry1.
Another trend is a move to higher barrier packaging. As the market becomes more fragmented with a proliferation of SKU’s, these SKU’s are more likely to spend time in the supply chain before being purchased by the consumer. In addition, a move to healthier, all-natural foods with fewer preservatives means barrier requirements are increasing even for products spending the same amount of time in the supply chain and on store shelves.