Common Laminating Techniques & Associated Adhesives
- Published: July 11, 2016, By Tom Bezigian
Lamination represents a major process used to produce flexible packaging products. The list below features lamination techniques, adhesives used, and examples of selected applications.
Flexible packaging represents approximately 20% of the total US $170 billion North American packaging market and is the third largest packaging segment after paperboard packaging and rigid plastic (source: Smithers Pira 2012). The fundamental processes used to make packaging film structures are blown film, cast film, and orientation.
These films can be used as is, or further converted through a variety of techniques with an even wider variety of adhesives to produce a structure with unique and useful properties. The common laminating techniques used today are shown below in table form.Ideas for further development of future blogs are welcome.
| Type of Lamination | Adhesive | Examples of Selected Applications |
| Extrusion Lamination |
LDPE |
Multilayer/multi-material packaging (combination of plastic or aluminum foil with paper or paperboard→e.g., fruit juice cartons) |
| Extrusion Lamination | EVA | Bonding PE to PVC |
| Extrusion Lamination |
Acid-containing adhesive: EAA or EMAA Ionomers Terpolymers of ethylene, acid and acrylate (e.g., methyl acrylate or isobutyl acrylate) |
Used to bond with aluminum foil |
| Extrusion Lamination |
Anhydride modified polyolefins: terpolymers of ethylene, maleic anhydride and acrylates (e.g., ethyl acrylate, butyl acrylate) |
|
| Dry-Bond Lamination |
Solvent-based PUR adhesives |
Flexible packaging→lamination of plastic films (bags, pouches, wraps for snack food, meat, and cheese packs, boil-in-bag food pouches) |
| Wet-Bond Adhesive |
Poly (vinyl acetate) emulsion (or copolymers of vinyl acetate and ethylene or acrylic esters) |
|
| Wet-Bond Adhesive |
Crosslinking acrylic-vinyl acetate copolymer emulsions |
Snack packages (e.g., potato chip bags) |
| Wet-Bond Adhesive |
Acrylic emulsion pressure-sensitive adhesives |
Pressure-sensitive labels |
| Wet-Bond Adhesive |
Polyurethane dispersions |
Lamination of plastic films in medium-performance flexible packaging where some chemical resistance is required |
| UV-Curing |
Acrylics and acrylates, epoxies, polyurethanes, polyesters, silicones, and vinyl and vinyl esters |
Flexible plastic packaging (at least one of the webs must be transparent to allow UV penetration) |
| EB-Curing |
See UV-curable adhesives |
|
| Solventless Lamination |
Polyurethanes |
|
| Hot-Melt Lamination |
EVA |
|
|
Ethylene-butyl acrylate |
|
|
| LDPE | For paper bonding constructions, case seaming, bag seaming and sealing | |
| Block copolymers of styrene, butadiene or isoprene | Hot-melt pressure-sensitive adhesives for tapes and labels, attachment of PE-base cups to polyester soft-drink bottles, sealing of film-laminated frozen-food cartons | |
| Moisture curing PUR hot melts | ||
| Hot-Melt Lamination | EVA | |
| Hot-Melt Lamination | Ethylene-butyl acrylate | |
| Hot-Melt Lamination | LDPE | For paper bonding constructions, case seaming, bag seaming and sealing |
| Hot-Melt Lamination | Block copolymers of styrene, butadiene or isoprene | Hot-melt pressure-sensitive adhesives for tapes and labels, attachment of PE-base cups to polyester soft-drink bottles, sealing of film-laminated frozen food cartons |
| Hot-Melt Lamination | Moisture curing PUR hot melts |
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