MORCHEM and COMEXI together for the solventless triplex revolution

February 27, 2020 Off By Sebastian Reisig

Nowadays the flexible packaging industry is facing enormous challenges. Not only plastics are in the eye of the hurricane, but all which is linked to its conversion, from inks to adhesives and coatings.

Certainly, the pressure on Solvent reduction has put stress on the adhesive manufacturers in order to achieve the highest performances, which were, until not long time ago, a niche for the solvent based adhesives.

Not only this, but the most complex question comes with the goal to produce a triplex structure in just one pass. Today, multilayer structures are worldwide spread and the majority of them are produced in Solventbased + solventless adhesives, if not Solventbased + Solventbased. The reason for that is that, as the solventless adhesives have really no high green tack, the initial two layers might glide one against the other while transporting them through the machine and prior to process the second lamination step plus rewinding.

It is for this reason that MORCHEM, one of the worldwide leaders in polyurethane adhesives, and in collaboration with COMEXI, has successfully homologated their SOLVENT FREE ADHESIVE MORCHEM PL 272 A + CF 74 in a triplex LAMINATING Machine in-line.

The adhesive used was the Morchem PL 272 A + CF-74 is a fast PAA decay solvent free laminating adhesive, specially designed to cover high demanding laminates, such us PET/ALU/Pe, nylon structures, and coated films.

The triplex structure was consisting of a printed PET 12 microns / ALU 7 microns / PE 50 microns, which was laminated at the outstanding speed of 400 m/min, delivering excellent wettability and perfect optical appearance.

These impressive results welcome the use of in-line solvent free triplex lamination, delivering a cost-effective alternative to a market segment which is currently dominated by solvent based adhesives.