AIMCAL Honors Technology of the Year, Institutes Sustainability Competition

Published: March 25, 2009

FT MILL, SC | The Assn. of Industrial Metallizers, Coaters & Laminators announced winners of its annual Technology of the Year Award and its new Sustainability Competition at its March 22 annual management meeting, held this year at the Hilton la Jolla Torrey Pines in La Jolla, CA.

Tidland Corp., Camas, WA, a subs. of Maxcess Corp. , Oklahoma City, OK, gets top honors for its patent-pending e-Knifeholder. Reported as the world’s first electronic knife holder for shear slitting, it’s powered by electricity instead of traditional mechanical or pneumatic actuation to enable the operator to set side force and overlap electronically. Once set, the unit automatically calibrates itself and positions the blade to reduce setup time and improve safety while ensuring product quality because of greater predictability of slit quality across the entire web. The unit also controls cant angle, geometry, and overspeed.

Named as a technology finalist is Dark Field Technologies, Orange, CT for its NxtGen glass inspection technology that yields 100% inspection f flat or curved surfaces. The system is claimed the first to use low-power white light illumination to detect defects as small as 5 microns to improve product quality, increase production rates, eliminate returns, and reduce operating expenses.

Green Award Debuts
The new Sustainability Competition encourages contenders to submit equipment, materials, and processes that reduce their impact on the environment. Unifoil Corp., Fairfield, NJ, and DuPont Teijin Films, Hopewell, VA, are the competition’s first-time winners.

Unifoil’s transfer-metallized UniLustre can be apllied to paper or paperboard while UltraLustre is suitable for film or rigid plastics to create a metallized or holographic substrate that conserves materials (with a weight savings of 5% on average for a folding carton) and improves recyclability. Both UniLustre transfer-metallizing process and patented and patent-pending UltraLustre electron-beam transfer-metallizing process apply an extremely thin 0.0003-in. layer of metal to the substrate, eliminating the need for multilayer film, film/paper, or foil/papr laminates that are difficult to recycle. The 100% solids transfer metallizing processes use no solvents or water and require no drying. The carrier film can be recycled for new film application.

DuPont Teijin also is recognized for its heat-sealable Mylar ECO PET lidding film with 30% post-consumer-recycled (PCR) content derived from PET bottles, 35% post-industrial recycled content, and 35% virgin PET. Press adjustments ensure the film with RPET content perform the same as 100% virgin material. The film’s recycled content allows pound for pound reduction of virgin PET to lower crude oil and energy consumption. By expanding demand for PCR content, consumers have incentive to recycle their empty PET bottles. ECO PET lidding films are acceptable for food contact for reheat applications in the US and European Union.