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veral methods with different ves or primers used at the capability of the molten po- lamination can be found in a
combination of heat and interfaces. lymer to conform to or match paper of D. Bentley, PFFC
pressure to ensure foil adhe- Converters can laminate the the chemical composition of magazine).
sion. four substrates by means of the substrate. Likewise, a pretreatment
Examples of common com- three separate operations or In the composite polye- between the foil and PE is
posite films are the mate- the layers are combined ster/PE /foil/PE for instance, necessary to form a suffi-
rials for beverage pouch- together in extrusion lamina- the actual construction to cient bond between those
stocks and the composites tions. In fact, the polyethyle- consider is more likely pol- two substrates.
for the medical packaging ne layer can be inserted in yester /interface/PE/foil/PE, Application of a surface mo-
industry. the combination by means of where the interface between dification to a substrate be-
The typical beverage pouch- a coating extrusion from PE the polyester and PET film fore an extrusion coating or
stock is a combination pa- pellets or with a laminating must be considered as a true extrusion laminating opera-
per/PE/foil/PE and the ma- process of a PE film. layer. At the polyester-pol- tion requires combinations
terial used for medical pac- yethylene interface, a primer of corona, flame, ozone and
kaging usually consists of MODIFYING and adhesives, after surface atmospheric plasma equip-
PET/PE/foil/PE. INTERFACES modifications, are necessary ment to optimize adhesion
These materials have then so that the polyester will (in Figure 2, a combination of
four substrates and three A major factor influencing adhere properly to the PE (a ozone and surface treat-
interfaces among substra- the extrusion bonds is the detailed discussion on the ments). In some instances a
tes, sometimes with adhesi- specific adhesion, that is the role of primers in extrusion/ chemical primer is used, or
an adhesive layer, to impro- to be able to significantly sion coating process. But ozone application together
ve lamination. promote covalent bonding excessive oxidation caused with various surface modifi-
of coatings to substrate by running at low speed and cation techniques such as
surfaces. high temperatures can pro- corona and atmospheric pla-
COMBINED
SURFACE Corona or atmospheric pla- mote odor and taste pro- sma, the influence of the
TREATMENT sma treatments are often blems for the product contai- combined action on the most
combined with ozone appli- ned in the packaging. popular plastics has not
The corona discharge, parti- cation in the coating extru- For this reason, extrusion been quantified by exhausti-
cularly bare roll and univer- sion and lamination. coaters and laminators seek ve experimental data. In the
sal roll designs, and flame Let us consider for instance to use lower process tempe- next section we will discuss
treatment at atmospheric the coating with LPDE. ratures and blow ozone (O3) the role on the heat seal
pressure have both been To have adhesion, it is directly onto the molten pla- strength.
effective for improving adhe- necessary to provide oxida- stic, thereby oxidizing it.
sion of various substrates on tion of the nonpolar plastic Moreover, for further avoi- EXTRUSION COATING
extrusion coating lines (the material. For molten plastic ding odor and taste modifi- EXPERIMENTS
image in Fig.3 shows a multi- to oxidize, high temperature cations, surface treatments
layer system). and contact with air are are used, instead of emplo- The analysis of a process
The more recent variable required. And in fact, LDPE ying special resins or chemi- such as extrusion coating
chemistry atmospheric pla- oxidizes at high temperatu- cal priming of the substrate. and laminating is rather
sma treatment (APT) proved res (300-330ºC) in the extru- In spite of a common use of complex.
TABELLA 1 - PARAMETRI UTILIZZATI NELLE PROVE SPERIMENTALI DESCRITTE NEL TESTO DI TRATTAMENTO COMBINATO OZONO / PLASMA ATMOSFERICO E OZONO / CORONA /
TABLE 1 - VARIABLE LEVELS UTILIZED IN EXPERIMENTAL DESIGN FOR TESTING OZONE/APT AND OZONE/CORONA TREATMENTS
We just discuss the role of tal runs were performed by variables on heat seal ture, line speed, air gap, and
the surface treatments in coating low-density pol- strength vs. seal temperature. coating weight.
this coating process, repor- yethylene onto oriented po- Including atmospheric pla- Besides these factors, seve-
ting here some results obtai- lypropylene and polyester sma treatment, five variables ral ozone related parameters
ned comparing ozone/coro- film. are thought to affect adhe- were identified that could
na with ozone/APT treat- Ordinary heat seal strength sion and heat seal strength, affect adhesion and heat
ments. techniques were used to namely: substrate surface seal strength.
In particular, two experimen- quantify the affects of the modification, melt tempera- These parameters were ozone
flow rate, ozone concentra- as increased taste and odor As a result, the measure- films (in this case with car-
tion (power setting on ozone or poor heat seal strength. ments display that the use of bon-based functionality).
unit), and geometry of the The Atmospheric Plasma APT surface modification to In the case of OPP film, the
applicator set-up such as trial runs were performed on the OPP and PET substrates level of heat seal strength is
horizontal distance and the Enercon APT pilot line. increased heat seal strength 20% higher than the level
angle from horizontal. The extrusion coating trial by a similar amount as the obtained with the corona
The levels used in this runs were performed on the corona treatment of the sub- pretreatment.
design are found in Table 1, Equistar Millennium Petro- strate. Surely, the performances of
accomplished by a combina- chemical extrusion coating The ozone treatment of the
the extruded film can be
tion of oxidation of the ex- pilot line. extrudate is the same. Figure
increased adjusting the melt
trudate and treatment of the For all extrudate runs, a 4 graphs the effects of sub-
temperature and the line
substrate. LDPE film was coated onto strate treatment and heat
The level of oxidation is a OPP and PET film. seal strength. speed.
function of the melt tempe- The samples were prepared Let us remember that the As a conclusion we can tell
rature, the line speed, the air and tested according to atmospheric plasma glow that a further enhancement
gap and the coating weight. ASTM test method F88. discharge provides a treat- of the heat seal strength of
Some combinations of these The heat seal tests were ment with high uniformity extrusion coated films can
variables will yield accepta- made on a heat seal machine and homogeneity, along with be obtained optimizing the
ble adhesion but also produ- using a pressure P= 206.8 the ability to micro-etch and atmospheric plasma treat-
ce undesirable effects such kPa and a dwell time T= 1 s. functionalize the surface of ment combined with ozone.