Application of pressure sensitive film in packaging

More and more food and beverage industries stimulate consumer spending by attracting customers' attention. With the continuous increase of beverages and special foods in the new era, consumer goods manufacturers need to obtain the product's shelf-rate through high-quality and inexpensive packaging images and build brand awareness. Eye-catching packaging is the best opportunity to give customers a strong first impression. Research shows that about 70% of customers make decisions about purchasing decisions, which are determined by impulse. This spurs manufacturers to influence consumer choice by emphasizing packaging design.

Pressure-sensitive films (adhesive films) are the best choice for food and beverage packaging materials and have a unique appearance. In particular, polyolefin films enable manufacturers to produce high-end "non-trademark appearance" images, tolerate wear and tear on the filling line, and tolerate temperature extremes of pasteurization and freezer refrigeration to extend shelf life.

Film and Aesthetics

The pressure-sensitive film has a more beautiful appearance, and it can support various printing methods from monochrome printing to 10-color printing through various printing technologies. Printing on a film can be combined with screen printing, embossing and thermal printing techniques to achieve the designer's desired effects.

Similarly, if it is necessary to expand the product line, the film also enhances the flexibility of food and beverage manufacturers. It only needs to produce different types of products without having to process a large number of boxes. At the same time, the film also has advantages in terms of delivery and application technology. Now more manufacturers can choose to label the packaging box on the filling production line, further improving the production efficiency.

The film also has a strong durability. Even in the label industry, films are the best choice for food and beverage packaging. When used in concentrated materials or in the interior of containers, paper is likely to crack or crack, while the film remains intact. In the printing process, the smoothness of the film surface can ensure the best print quality. In addition, opaque films can also be used, which can be applied to a variety of trademarks. For example, graphics can be printed on the upper side of the logo on the inside of the transparent container, visible through the packaging container, and printed on the other side of the logo by the customer (product catalog, instruction manual, etc.).

The film also has low initial preparation cost characteristics, making it the material of choice for any length trademark printing job. Other technologies, such as mold forming, have higher initial preparation costs. The use of film to produce multicolored packaging decorations can save a lot of money.

In addition, the pressure-sensitive film expands the technical range of production operations. Thin film labels can achieve maximum productivity on narrow web processing equipment. At the same time, the emergence of digital printing technology and ancillary advanced coating technologies has also provided manufacturers with ways to produce shorter-run printing labels and professional or seasonal labels.

Not only the film

Although the bottom of the film material is very important, providing a variety of design options for food and beverage manufacturers is the construction of a pressure sensitive (PS) layer.

Adhesives: Compared to direct or thermal transfer printing, pressure-sensitive adhesives provide better adhesion on more material surfaces, creating a beautiful look on glass, high-density polyethylene (HDPE) or regular polyethylene packaging. .

Currently developed reusable adhesives allow trademarks to be removed and applied multiple times within a specified period of time after initial use. Other adhesives can be selected according to actual needs, only this material will not fade or shift on the surface of the package. The designer must also consider that the adhesive is likely to be exposed on the surface of the items in the package. When certain food and beverage products can cause problems with certain adhesive systems, adhesives can be selected based on the properties of the PS adhesive to resist the contents of the package, to reduce the potential for gradual damage and loss of the trademark.

Surface Coating: Surface coating optimizes the printability of the material, ensuring compatibility with a variety of flexographic printing inks, rotary screen printing inks, UV inks, letterpress rotary ink systems, and hot molding systems. This adaptability means that the printing technology and color used for packaging labels made of pressure-sensitive films are truly free from any restrictions. Therefore, when designing pictures, designers are only limited by their imagination without considering technical and process issues.

Peel-off liners: liners are often peeled off and discarded, so they are often forgotten, but peel-off liners are an integral part of PS film construction. Peel-off liners help improve positioning, provide stability, and traceability during paper product processing, printing, and shipping processing. Transparent film release liners are stronger than many paper liners. They eliminate web breakage and provide excellent die-cutting performance. It is worth noting that the film release liner has a smooth surface. This smoothness is very important because in the process of peeling, the surface of the adhesive is the reverse of the surface of the liner. The smoother the surface of the adhesive during contact with the surface of the package, the more likely it is to form a suitable wetness and “no trademark appearance”.

Strict match

Packaging trademarks face very harsh conditions. Depending on the product, the trademark may face very extreme environmental factors such as high temperatures, cold, moisture, and exposure to the product in the package. At this time, trademarks must not only remain sticky, but also remain legible and attractive. Therefore, it is very important to match the needs of the application with special label films.

In the food and beverage sector, double-oriented polypropylene (BOPP) has been the most important material for many years. BOPP materials are transparent, white and silver, and are known for their durability. For example, seasonings such as ketchup or hors d’oeuvres can be transferred from the cold environment of a refrigerator to the hot and humid environment of a summer picnic table, and then returned. This repeated concentration and evaporation is likely to destroy less durable materials, but BOPP will still maintain its original properties in these back and forth changes.

In addition to being able to tolerate temperature limits, BOPP also protects the contents of the package. Although foods and beverages are generally considered to be non-corrosive, the acidity of pickle juice or hot sauce can challenge ink adhesion on any label. BOPP ensures excellent ink adhesion through surface coating and has been the "no trademark appearance" standard load material for more than a decade. In recent years, the development of low-thickness BOPP has provided pressure-sensitive film manufacturers with cheaper and more suitable common films.

Trademarks must meet the shapes and surfaces of various packages. In particular, squeezable packaging containers have found considerable application in certain areas of the condiment market. The film meets the final requirements of the soft label and can be bent and stretched without breaking. Polyethylene, modified polypropylene and styrene plastic films are ideal materials for fully extruded, semi-extruded and rigid packaging containers. Like BOPP, these plastic films can be designed to resist tearing, moisture, abrasion and other challenging environments, and All can remain fully printable and squeezable.

First impression

Food and beverage manufacturers are eager to attract attention, increase market share, and store space for their own products, so new packaging materials are constantly being designed to differentiate their products from competitors. Irregular molded glass bottles with mixed curves and textured surfaces have become ubiquitous in the market, especially in the more competitive new beverage industry.

Efforts have been made to develop a prominent brand of paper products, and processors can use the special expertise of pressure-sensitive films. For example, the film can be made into a stiff brand by brushing or dyeing. Phosphorescent, fluorescent, or metal-treated plastic films can make certain packages in stores more distinctive. Paper product processors can also choose to use standard or customer-designed patterns to form reliefs on a variety of films. Micro-reliefs are also possible and can provide two- and three-dimensional holographic patterns, beating or flashing light appearances, geometric movements, and texture hallucinations to enhance visual effects.

The best example of effective use of interactive bottle packaging is the use of various pressure-sensitive plastic films by a well-known beer manufacturer. The company developed a novel bottle of basketball material with a PS vinyl bottleneck trademark. In combination with printing, some trivial questions about sports and their answers are printed on the bottleneck mark through variable data printing and thermochromic (temperature-sensitive) inks. When the bottle is kept cold, the answer is not visible, and as the bottleneck temperature rises, the answer becomes apparent.

When some manufacturers intend to open the market by launching new products, other manufacturers want to restore the established brand's market vitality through the use of new packaging. For example, the One salad seasoning factory has always used a monochrome screen printing practical ceramic trademark in its products. At present, in order to expand the new market, the company turned to adopt a multicolor PS polypropylene trademark as the main trademark form. . Although there was no change in the seasoning or glass packaging containers, according to the company's report, sales of the products have increased significantly since the introduction of the new packaging.

Other manufacturers also use the appearance of the plastic film itself. Surface gloss and matte films can be used to reflect the product within the lower packaging container. This is very common in the wine and beverage industry, and "no trademark appearance" relies on the ability of the brand to fuse into opaque, translucent or transparent bottles.

Expand your possibilities

The future of beverage and food trademarks will be based on the continuous promotion of the industry to economical trademark solutions. The competition between market share and shelf share will become increasingly fierce, and consumer goods manufacturers will continue to explore the creation of more beautiful pictures that cater to high-level consumers, while at the same time pushing the price of trademarks down.

The durability and economic benefits of pressure-sensitive films provide paper processors with ever-increasing opportunities. Pressure-sensitive films also provide designers and manufacturers with greater aesthetic imagination, and thus continue to promote the establishment and enhancement of product brand image.