Non-contact laser sealing of thin polyester food packaging films

Brown, Neil Andrew; Kerr, David; Parkin, Robert M.; Jackson, Michael R.; Shi, Fangmin

doi:10.1016/j.optlaseng.2012.04.001

Cited by 14 publications

(7 citation statements)

References 14 publications

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“…Plasma treatment increased surface roughness and added oxygen and nitrogen functional groups 107 . Another study illustrates the potential of laser technology to seal lidding film to a tray 23 . APET is high viscous compared to molten polyolefins during sealing.…”

Section: Polyestersmentioning

confidence: 98%

“…21,22 Another seal technology uses infrared radiation to heat packaging materials. 23 In ultrasonic sealing, mechanical vibrations in the ultrasonic range are applied to generate heat in packaging materials. 24 A last group of technologies uses electromagnetic energy.…”

Section: Seal Technologiesmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…107 Another study illustrates the potential of laser technology to seal lidding film to a tray. 23 APET is high viscous compared to molten polyolefins during sealing. Low viscous behaviour is related with filling up channel leaks in packages or encapsulating contamination, referred to as 'caulkability'.…”

Section: Seal Characteristicsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Heat can also be transferred by convection in hot air sealers 21,22 . Another seal technology uses infrared radiation to heat packaging materials 23 . In ultrasonic sealing, mechanical vibrations in the ultrasonic range are applied to generate heat in packaging materials 24 .…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Seal materials in flexible plastic food packaging: A review

2023

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Flexible packaging has many advantages in the food industry, arising from low weight, formability, multilayer complexity and cost. Heat sealing is a very efficient technique to close flexible food packaging. Currently, many thermoplastic materials are used in seal layers. A seal can be formed when these materials are heated and brought into contact; thereafter, polymer chains diffuse across the seal interface and entangle. Hydrogen bonds, polar and ionic interactions are molecular forces that can come into play, depending on the thermoplastic materials that are used in the seal layer. Bonds between identical polymers, referred to as autohesion, are formed in pouch applications (e.g., horizontal and vertical form-fill-seal packages). In lidding applications, the flexible film is sealed to a rigid cup, tray or bottle, whereby bonds can be formed between non-identical polymers because the materials are often provided by different suppliers. All heat seal technologies imply heating of seal layers but differ in the heating principle. In the food industry and in most scientific seal studies, the seals of mono-and multilayered packaging are mainly formed by conductive heating. Recently, the use of emerging technologies, such as ultrasonic and laser heating, is increasingly described in recent papers. Applied seals are characterized by strength after a specified cooling time. Immediately after heating, this strength is referred to as hot tack. A good seal performance is crucial to guarantee food safety and quality. Besides strength, tightness is important to prevent food degradation, caused by microorganisms and external gases, and to keep aromatic gases inside the package. This review aims to give a literature overview that can support stakeholders in the food industry to improve and optimize the material selection in flexible packaging, in order to obtain seals with desired tightness and strength. Heat seal studies on materials and seal technology of flexible food packaging, such as pouches and lidding films, are considered. Scientific data are categorized from a materials' perspective, based on chemical structure, which is revealed by chemical and thermal analysis. A majority of the seal studies is categorized in a first section on polyolefins as seal layers. The following sections describe the seal functionality of (i) ethylene copolymers, such as ionomers; and (ii) polyesters, such as poly (ethylene terephthalate), pol (lactic acid) and poly (butylene succinate). The role of plasticizers, fillers and other

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Section: Polyestersmentioning

confidence: 98%

Section: Seal Technologiesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Seal Characteristicsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Seal materials in flexible plastic food packaging: A review

2023

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“…The authors were unable to determine the upper limit of processing speed as a result of the limited power of the laser but demonstrated that through compensating by increasing power and decreasing spot size, the processing speed of laser welding of polymers can be increased. A further follow‐up publication investigated the CO 2 laser welding of commercially available 26 µm thick Esterpeel film with an amorphous PET sealing layer to a PET container tray. The study focussed once again on improving throughput to match conventional sealing processes, quoted here as producing up to 60 seals per minute.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Effect of Laser Power, Traverse Velocity and Spot Size on the Peel Resistance of a Polypropylene/Adhesive Bond

Dowding

Franceschini

et al. 2015

Packag. Technol. Sci.

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The mean peel resistance force achieved with respect to variation in the laser power, incident spot traverse velocity and incident spot diameter between linear low density polyethylene film backed by a thin commercial adhesive coating that were bonded to a polypropylene (PP) substrate via thermal activation provided by a 27W CO 2 laser is discussed in this work.The results gathered for this work have been used to generate a novel empirical tool that predicts the CO 2 laser power required to achieve a viable adhesive bond for this material combination. This predictive tool will enable the packaging industry to achieve markedly increased financial yield, process efficiency, reduced material waste and process flexibility.A laser spot size-dependent linear increase in laser line energy was necessary for this material combination, suggesting the minimal impact of thermal strain rate. Moreover, a high level of repeatability around this threshold laser line energy was indicated, suggesting that laser-activated adhesive bonding of such polymer films is viable.The adhesion between the material combination trialled here responded linearly to thermal load. In particular, when using the smallest diameter laser spot, it is proposed that the resulting high irradiance caused film or adhesive material damage, thus resulting in reduced peel resistance force.The experimental work conducted indicated that the processing window of an incident CO 2 laser spot increases with respect to spot diameter, simultaneously yielding greater bond stability in the face of short-term laser variance.

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Engineering of the Product

2020

Packaging Technology and Engineering

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Non-contact laser sealing of thin polyester food packaging films

Cited by 14 publications

References 14 publications

Seal materials in flexible plastic food packaging: A review

Seal materials in flexible plastic food packaging: A review

The Effect of Laser Power, Traverse Velocity and Spot Size on the Peel Resistance of a Polypropylene/Adhesive Bond

Engineering of the Product

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