MINNEAPOLIS, MN—Flint Group Flexible Packaging is proud to present yet another strong product innovation to the EMEA market: VarioLam AB LEC, a range of multifunctional polyurethane (PU) based inks, suitable for high performance flexo printing and withstanding the retort process.
This single ink system is free of a cross linker, nitrocellulose (NC) and polyvinyl chloride (PVC binder). It enables the printing of high definition graphics that can withstand the moisture, heat and pressure of the retort process which is used to ensure the extended shelf life and safety of filling goods. VarioLam AB LEC provides very high bond strengths on a wide range of film structures. It is universal for every lamination structure imaginable and therefore strongly supports a lean production, continuous improvement process (CIP), as well as an enhanced Overall Equipment Efficiency (OEE).
Thomas Strohe, commercial product director flexible packaging, EMEA, explains, “PU based inks have been used by Flint Group for many years, mainly for whites and in conjunction with NC and PVC based inks. This latest technology, however, is NC and PVC binder free and available as colored inks. This enables maximum flexibility for a wide range of end use applications.”
Thanks to a very careful raw material selection and its superior lamination performance, this advanced ink technology meets all of today’s technical requirements and strict legal regulations as well as the upcoming challenges of the modern packaging industry.
Flint Group’s latest VarioLam AB LEC technology offers the following main characteristics:
- Mono pigmented at maximum color strength; very clean shades for widest gamut
- Low odor and formulated using ingredients with high migration limits only; therefore specifically recommended for food and pet food applications
- Free of migrateable substances and monomeric plasticizers (> 1.000D)
- Retarder based halftone version with low EtOH content (<9 percent)
- Excellent printability (finest halftone printing from 100 to 0 percent; smooth/solid full tone)
- Very good resolubility and ink transfer, low dot gain
- Extremely low solvent retention supporting production at high speed