Packaging
BOBST becomes exclusive representative for Openair plasma technology on folder-gluers
Thursday 24. January 2008 - In line with its policy of always offering high performance solutions to its customers, BOBST has signed an exclusive deal with German manufacturer Plasmatreat, who are specialists in plasma treatment systems, to represent their products in the area of packaging folding & gluing.
The agreement with the specialists in Openair atmospheric plasma technology, reflects this BOBST commitment to providing innovative and powerful tools to its customers.
The technology is widespread in the car industry, where it has proven itself to be an indispensable tool for joining together synthetic materials. The advantages of its use on plastic packaging, as well as on varnished, laminated or metallized paperboard, are numerous.
A question of surface tension
Surface tension is key to the joining together of synthetic materials such as plastics. The principle can be illustrated by looking at the results of ink tests on synthetic substrates. With low surface tension, small droplets are formed on the surface of the plastic. Similarly, if one tries to apply glue to a laminated or varnished box, the resultant bond is poor because it is only strong at the points where glue droplets form. However, following plasma treatment, and the consequent rise in surface tension above 72mN/m, the adhesive will adhere to the whole surface and will form a homogeneous, high strength, bond.
Because surface tension drops in relation to the length a product has been in storage, it may fall to a level which makes it no longer possible to glue the material. For this reason the application of plasma treatment is carried out in-line, immediately before gluing.
Field of application
The use of synthetic materials is now widespread in the field of the high value added packaging such as cosmetics. An expensive operation, the gluing of these materials requires particular attention and there is considerable interest among box makers in solutions that can reduce their outlay on adhesives, while guaranteeing reliable gluing. Plasma treatment, carried out in-line just before the gluing operation, is undoubtedly the answer.
The advantages of Openair plasma treatment
Plasma treatment offers many advantages, including:
– An increase in surface tension which allows the use of standard cold adhesives rather than hot melt, thus reducing the number of adhesives used in the gluing of laminated or metallized board boxes.
For UV varnished paperboards, varnish cutouts on the glue flap are no longer necessary and milling, which slows down production and generates dust and waste, is also unnecessary.
For plastic boxes using Polyurethane (PUR) adhesives, which are sensitive to moisture, the process removes organic residues, dust and moisture from the glue flaps.
Plasma treatment takes an active part in the reduction in unaesthetic bubbles in the adhesive track on transparent plastic boxes, while leaving no trace on the treated surface.
In addition to its cost benefits, the other advantages of Openair technology include reliability, safety and the quality of the in-line production process, ensuring that it can respond to the very highest of requirements.
Thanks to this exclusive agreement with PLASMATREAT, BOBST has made it possible for its customers to benefit from the clear economic advantages of reducing their glue investment when processing laminated boxes, and of reducing print costs by removing the need to create varnish cut-outs on varnished boxes – all the while maintaining high production speeds.
Easy to install on the machine, environmentally friendly, and delivered with the necessary fittings and interfaces for any BOBST, or competitor, folder-gluer, plasma treatment is without any doubt a system that will gain the attention of many converters in the search of quality improvement solutions.