PIACENZA, Italy—Nordmeccanica and Hydro held at the Nordmeccanica Corporate location on Feb. 23 and 24 a workshop on thin foil lamination at high production speed.
The invitational event saw the presence of representatives from every major converter in Europe. Industry experts delivered technical papers:
- Dr. Giuseppe Giordano, Studio Tecnico Giordano
- Dr. Duncan Darby, Department of Packaging Science, Clemson University
- Günter Shubert, Hydro R&D center
- Giancarlo Caimmi and Vincenzo Cerciello, Nordmeccanica
The program included demonstration runs of 0.00019-in. (5-µm.), introduced by Hydro to the market in early 2015, and 0.00024-in. (6.3-µm.) foil laminated to printed PET. Lamination was performed live, coating the unsupported foil and featured solvent base (both with “semi flexo” and rotogravure coating heads and 100 percent solid (solvent free) adhesives laminations.
Moving from 6-µm. to 5-µm. will allow savings up to 16 percent in packaging material. Yet, based on the right alloys and processing the unique, absolute barrier function that aluminium can offer is preserved effectively with benefits to all parties involved, not least of which is the environment. Demonstration runs have been performed on the Nordmeccanica Combi 3000 installed at the Piacenza R&D center. Attendees witnessed the machine setup, job changeover and three alternative adhesive lamination technologies handling the thin foil with ease. The outcome of the workshop is the confirmation that thin foil, manufactured in the proper alloy and respecting proper quality standards, is safe to be used on standard equipment, once said equipment is “state of the art” in design and engineering.
Lamination runs have been demonstrated up to 984 fpm of production speed and attendees have been provided with GC analysis for solvent retention of the solvent based adhesive runs and samples showing exceptional quality levels. The event proved once again that the cooperation between industry leaders is the best way to provide converters with “cutting edge” technology.
“This was the third event in the Nordmeccanica/Hydro cooperation, and I am sure more will come,” said Giancarlo Caimmi, commercial director for Nordmeccanica Group. “We are once again providing our customers with innovation as a proved ‘technology package,’ combining the knowhow of leading suppliers.”
“The partnership as demonstrated in the workshop enables suppliers and customers to achieve outstanding results. Tackling technical limits in order to do step changes in the packaging industry by further developing materials, machines and processes is a key success factor for the future,” said Markus Offermann, sales director for Hydro’s product area foil.