Under its "Smart release coatings for every substrate" motto, the Munich-based chemical company WACKER will be presenting highly efficient paper-coating and film-coating agents at Labelexpo Europe 2009. Highlights will be a new product for coating unprimed polyester, as well as a novel silicone polymer for industrial label applications with a very flat release-force profile. The solvent-free product, marketed under the DEHESIVE 971 brand, cures extremely quickly and is a suitable polymer component for high-quality, yet cost-effective low-platinum systems. Labelexpo Europe runs from September 23 to 26 in Brussels, Belgium.
Release-coating systems based on DEHESIVE® 971 reduce the amount of platinum catalyst by up to 60% compared to conventional silicone systems. Due to its low release values, the new silicone polymer is particularly suitable for label-manufacturing applications. (Photo: Wacker Chemie AG)
DEHESIVE 971, which will be presented to a broad trade audience for the first time, is a highly reactive, platinum-catalyzed addition-curing silicone polymer. As a result of its high reactivity, just trace amounts of the platinum catalyst suffice for complete curing. Compared to conventional systems, platinum savings of up to 60% are possible.
Low-platinum systems based on DEHESIVE 971 can be used on high-speed coating lines. They produce a completely cured silicone film whose release properties have been optimized for machine peeling at high throughputs. Consequently, release-liner and label manufacturers can noticeably lower the costs of the entire silicone system without affecting the silicone film's quality.
The DEHESIVE 971 coating system's high reactivity enables perfect curing. The amount of extractable components in the cured release film is correspondingly low. This perfect curing has a positive effect on the release film's properties. For example, very little force is needed to peel labels off, which prevents tearing during machine peeling or matrix stripping. Furthermore, the release force profile is flat. Thus, the force needed remains low even when labels are pulled off very quickly - such as during mass production of consumer goods. Finally, release properties remain constant even when the laminate has been in storage for a lengthy period of time.
The silicone coating system's properties can be fine-tuned by adjusting the amounts of other system components - crosslinker, platinum catalyst and, if applicable, controlled-release additive - to suit application conditions. WACKER offers comprehensive technical support, enabling customers to fully tap DEHESIVE 971's potential cost-savings and benefits.
Cost-Effective: Coating Unprimed Polyester
Unprimed polyester is becoming a very popular alternative to paper as a release liner because it is cost-effective and easy to process. However, there were sometimes adhesion problems with the silicone release coating in the past.
This has now been solved via WACKER SILICONES' new HF 100 additive. It allows reliable coating of unprimed polyester substrates, thereby facilitating significant cost-savings during the manufacture of release films.