Bobst recently organized a vacuum metallizing and coating innovations seminar at Taj Palace Hotel in New Delhi. Attended by more than 80 flexible packaging converters and suppliers, the seminar showcased Bobst’s innovations in the field of vacuum metallizing and coating.
Carolin Struller from Bobst Manchester illustrated the company’s in-depth research on AlOx (Aluminium Oxide) clear coating—right from its production to its performance on various filmic substrates, through to its barrier retention with subsequent processes of printing and converting. Bobst provides a vacuum-coated clear barrier coating, which is a potential replacement for existing metallized structures and polymer clear coatings and combines the benefits of a clear barrier coating applied in atmosphere. A distinctive property of vacuum coating is that it requires only a small fraction of the thickness of equivalent atmospheric coating with the barrier properties of the two being similar. This results in a coating which involves a significantly lower production cost. Bobst uses a standard aluminium metallizer as a foundation for the AlOx process, which results in versatility as one machine can be used for two processes without compromise.
In another presentation, Nick Copeland held an insightful discussion on market trends, opportunities and Bobst’s latest innovation—AluBond. Copeland said, “AluBond is a hybrid coating technology which vastly improves metal adhesion.” Bobst AluBond can safeguard the barrier properties in the laminate structure through high metal adhesion process and provide the required shelf life to the packaging.
Copeland added, “Historically, introduction of plasma treaters on to metallizers saw the revelry edition of metal adhesion values of 5N/15mm. But now the
demand for metal adhesion value has increased.” Traditional metallization, even
with plasma treatment, can result in poor metal to polymer substrate bonding. A
reason for this is low surface energy on the metal side which also contributes to
poor lamination bonding. Bobst’s AluBond technology addresses this common
issue through its vacuum metallizers, eliminating the need for chemically treated
films.
Bobst K5 Expert
Chris Cheetham, area sales manager, Bobst Manchester, talked about the K5 Expert which was launched at Bobst Manchester Open House in October last year. The Bobst K5 Expert is the next generation of the K5000 metallizer. According to Cheetham, the K5 Expert metallizer provides cost-saving innovations and consumes comparatively less energy. Suitable for flexible packaging material, sack and bag production, label manufacture, security applications and many more, the K5 Expert can run at speeds up to 1,200 m/min and offers increased roll diameters up to 1,270 mm.
metallized structures and polymer clear coatings . Photo PSA
Nilesh Pinto, zone business director, Bobst India, introduced the new CL750, a multi-technology compact lamination machine. “This CL750 is a very good machine also at a film producer’s end. The model can be used for trial runs, where you have a special coating for a particular application in a high value-added job but with a very small run. Coming from a coating background really helped us incorporate a lot of our coating expertise in this machine,” he said.
Sameer Joshi, head of services, Bobst India, briefed the audience about the overall equipment effectiveness and the importance of a strong local service team. Joshi said, “Our commitment is to make your investment a good decision. We believe that a very good machine does not remain good just on the first day of the run but even after more than 10 years.”
