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.
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 […]
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
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 […]
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.
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.
By: Dante Ferrari, Celplast Metallized Products Limited 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. Both of these trends will be examined in the structures evaluated in this study. However, we are going beyond evaluating barrier in a flat sheet form. Consumer goods companies are becoming more aware of the fact that barrier properties can change as a package travels through the supply chain. Therefore, barrier properties measured in a flat sheet are not necessarily as representative of the final use as barrier properties as […]
We’ve all had it happen. We find a roll in inventory, perfect for that rush job, only to find that there is no identification on the roll. How to determine the functional side? Here are some quick tips to get you out of that jam and producing product in confidence. First a quick how to: Ensure the film surface is clean and clear of any contaminates. It is recommended to remove at least one full wrap from the outside of the roll before taking your test sample. Fold the sample so as to have both sides of the film upper-most Draw the dyne pen across the web so to test both sides of the film Evaluate the results Separate sets of pens should be kept for different substrate types Dyne solution pens will quickly and effectively identify the treated surface of many film types. Below show results with dyne solution applied to a treated and non-treated surface of polyester. Polyester: The non-treated side of polyester has a natural dyne level of 44 so you will need to use a high dyne treat pen (58 dyne solution pen is recommended) to determine the treated side. The dyne solution will bead-up immediately on the untreated PET side, while it will wet-out (remain flat) on the treated surface. Polypropylene and polyethylene films: Polypropylene, with […]
Dante Ferrari of Celplast Metallized Products will be presenting at the AIMCAL Fall Technical Conference (Oct. 27 – 30 in Charleston, SC). Flexible packaging barrier properties and how it translates to real world use will be discussed. For high barrier flexible packaging, understanding how barrier properties are impacted by handling through pouch-forming, the supply chain and in the consumer’s hands is critical. You may have excellent barrier properties in a laminated rollstock. But what happens to the package in the real world? We studied barriers of 3 different types of metalized films in 2 ply and 3 ply laminate structures, both before and after gelbo-flexing. Three different adhesive systems (solvent-based, solvent-less and water-based) were evaluated, and bond strengths of each finished laminate were also measured. Come join the conversation and discover the truth about barrier properties and how you can improve your packaging!
Metal adhesion has long been a challenge in the converter packaging world. The ubiquitous stand-up pouch (Reverse printed PET/Metallized PET/Sealant) and other standard laminated packages, always had intermittent, unidentifiable de-lamination issues, which would crop up from time to time with corona treated polyester and then disappear with no explanation. It was found however that this nuisance issue could be corrected with metallizing chemically treated polyester film. But nothing ever stays the same. Along came hazelnut-flavored coffees, eucalyptus-infused pet treats, large format side-gusseted stand-up pouches and other formats, and increasing usage of solventless adhesives. Delamination issues re-surfaced once again. Polyester laminated to polyester introduces two stiff films which in and of itself, is its’ own challenge. Now, strong flavors,new, larger package formats, and stiffer adhesives have been introduced to the mix adding to the daunting task of achieving high bond strength and subsequent barrier requirements. Our customer needed to achieve better bond strengths that their customer, the brand owner, demanded. In response to this challenge, SUPERMET™, a metallized polyester that provides 600 g/in of metal adhesion to polyester was introduced. The adhesion strength is accomplished through a proprietary metallizing process; but more importantly SUPERMET™ proves to be a viable solution for many structures including the above cited examples. SUPERMET™ was quickly followed by SUPERMET™ HB, a metallized polyester with the same 600 g/in […]
