Roll Coating/Curing Process Wins AIMCAL's Technology Of The Year Competition

The Association of Industrial Metallizers, Coaters and Laminators (AIMCAL) presented its Technology of the Year Award to Celplast Metallized Products Ltd./Vast Films Ltd., Toronto, Ontario, Canada, for its Metacoat roll coating technology on Sunday, March 21, 2010, at a banquet during its annual Management Meeting, March 21-24, 2010, at the Hilton La Jolla Torrey Pines in La Jolla, California.

The patent-pending Metacoat technology allows coating and metallizing to occur in the same pass at standard metallizing speeds. A gravure coating station applies an acrylate and/or methacrylate liquid to the film surface and cures it immediately via electron beam exposure. Coating can occur before or after metallizing. Eliminating separate metallizing and coating passes dramatically improves economics. It also can increase a metallized film's barrier properties because top-coating immediately after metallizing protects the metallized surface from micro scratches and defects caused by roller contact and downstream processing. Immediate applications include packaging, insulation, reflective displays and flexible electronics. In time, additional applications may include food packaging, metallized transfer film, hot-foil stamping film, solar collectors, photovoltaic cells, optical coatings and scratch-resistant coatings for decorative panels. Celplast currently produces 39-inch-wide coated/metallized material on a pilot line and is equipping a larger metallizer to produce 60-inch-wide coated/metallized material. It's scheduled for startup in March 2010. Celplast also plans to license the technology to other converters.

The judges applauded the combination of metallizing and coating steps and the resulting improvement in barrier properties. "This material has the potential to be extremely widely used for any applications that require barrier," noted one judge. "Compared to flash evaporation processes, the Metacoat technology broadens the number of acrylic chemistries that can be used in vacuum conditions and eliminates problems with acrylic vapor, which can infiltrate pumps and other components and cause a lot of downtime," concluded another judge.

The five-member judging panel also named four finalists in the AIMCAL Technology of the Year competition. "This was the strongest field of entries we've seen in many years," reports Steve Sedlak, chair of AIMCAL's Awards Committee.

A 10-count carton for Disney branded juice pouches from Langer Juice Co., Inc., City of Industry, California, earned Graphic Packaging International, Inc., Marietta, Georgia, finalist recognition in the Coated, Laminated or Metallized Product Category. The reverse-printed, metallized Composipac Z-Flute folding carton reduces material requirements by laminating Z-flute reinforcement strips to load bearing areas. The result is a multipack carton that eliminates the need for corrugated shippers. The thinner profile of the Z-Flute carton versus a traditional B-Flute shipper doubles the number of multipacks per pallet and thereby reduces the number of pallets and truckloads needed to ship product. In addition, the reverse-printed, metallized film provides scuff and moisture resistance as well as eye-catching shelf impact with its high gloss finish and use of transparent and spot opaque white inks. It also should be noted that the paperboard contains 100% recycled content.

The environmental and productivity advantages sold the judges on the Composipac Z-Flute folding carton. Eliminating the need for corrugated shippers not only reduces material costs and waste, but also simplifies handling for retailers.

Judges honored FLEXmark floor art 6605/6600 from FLEXconCo., Inc., Spencer, Massachusetts, as the finalist in the Material Category. FLEXmark floor art transforms floors into an advertising medium. The two-part system pairs printable vinyl with a white double-faced polyester laminate, which provides an opaque base for the printed graphics. FLEXmark floor art 6605 consists of 2.8-mil high-gloss clear vinyl reverse-printed on the adhesive side with ultraviolet (UV) or solvent screen inks or UV inkjet and protected with a removable, 5.0-mil polyester pre-mask. During installation the pre-mask protects the film from dirt and abrasion and provides rigidity that aids the application process. The printed FLEXmark floor art 6605 is laminated to the permanent adhesive side of the FLEXmark floor art 6600, a 1-mil double-faced white polyester with a permanent/removable adhesive system. The permanent adhesive on the clear polyester release liner side provides smooth wet-out against the printed graphics. The removable adhesive on the layflat paper release liner side adheres to the floor, yet permits clean removal. Using a double-faced adhesive as an underlaminate provides opacity for the graphics and represents a departure from the traditional way that floor advertising is printed and installed. It's also considerably thinner - 6 mils versus 10 mils. The thinner gauge allows the retailer to continue normal floor care since it withstands floor waxing and burnishing processes. Targeted to support brand building and promotional efforts, the FLEXmark floor art 6605/6606 has been shown to increase sales lift by about 30%, two to four times more than that typically experienced with traditional floor graphics.

The judges were impressed with the structure of the floor art material and recognized its brand-building and sales-generating potential. "Anything that boosts sales 30% is profound," noted one judge, "It changes the way people behave," he explained.

The One Shot three-ply, solvent-free laminator earned Nordmeccanica NA, Ltd., Edgewood, New York, finalist honors in the Coating/Laminating Equipment/Accessories Category. Two onboard coating stations apply adhesive to two substrates, which join a third at a lamination nip to create a three-ply substrate in a single pass. A rewind immediately following the lamination nip helps control the process and the stability of the laminated material despite the low shear resistance of solvent-free adhesives. The laminator design cuts waste by more than 50% compared to the two-ply back-to-back process traditionally used to create a three-ply lamination. Other advantages include a reduction of more than 80% in energy consumption versus solvent-borne adhesive lamination and elimination of the drying systems needed for solvent- or water-borne adhesive lamination and their emissions.

The judges liked the equipment's ability to streamline the lamination process and its sustainability benefits. "Eliminating solvents is great step forward," noted one member of the judging panel.

In the Metallizing Equipment Accessories Category, Dark Field Technologies, Inc., Orange, Connecticut, was recognized for its NxtGen-Haze instrument. The patent-pending device moves haze measurement online, measures and maps haze in real-time, and provides an alarm if conditions exceed user-set parameters. Intended to replace off-line measurements, which rely on small samples of material, the full-web inspection system measures light diffused by the substrate and maps haze levels so out-of-spec sections can be removed.
"Moving haze measurement online is a major step forward," according to one judge. "Identifying out-of-spec substrates without waiting for a lab test has a positive impact on productivity," said another.

The judging panel for the Technology of the Year Competition included AIMCAL's three technical consultants -- Dr. Edward D. Cohen, AIMCAL Consultant - Coating and Laminating; Dr. John B. Fenn Jr., AIMCAL Consultant - Sputtering; Dr. Eldridge M. Mount, AIMCAL Consultant - Metallizing; plus Dr. Charles A. Bishop of C.A. Bishop Consulting, Loughborough, UK; and Larry Gogolin of Gogolin Associates, Bolton Massachusetts. AIMCAL Awards Committee Chair Steve Sedlak, sales manager for ESK, Ceradyne, Inc., Costa Mesa, California, moderated the judging session.