Coatings can add a certain “je ne sais quoi” to make any packaging pop off the shelf.

By Megan Wolf

It’s a fact that people are attracted to certain genetic traits in others. For instance, some women look for men with blonde hair and blue eyes, while others only date the tall, dark, and handsome types. Some people even take steps to have specific physical attributes—like wearing colored contacts to make their dark eyes appear blue, or sitting in a tanning bed to turn their light skin golden.

The world of package printing likes to play these same tricks because, what it really comes down to is, it’s all about the packaging. One of the best ways to add that something special to a package is with coatings. Certain chemistries can add protection to the goods inside the package, as well as amazing special effects to catch a consumer’s eye. According to some industry experts, new technology developments in the coating market are giving printers the means to do this double-duty and much more.

What’s on the outside counts

In the past, coatings were asked to perform simple tasks, like staving off moisture and keeping scratches to a minimum. But this is not the case any more. While acting tough is an important function of coatings, there seems to be a trend to take coatings to the brink—to make them really earn their keep.

For example, Sun Chemical Inc.’s Tony Bean, product manager, folding cartons, sees a trend occurring where coatings are now effectively replacing varnishes. “What we see is, we are asking our coatings to replace a layer of lamination, but still provide excellent water and scratch resistance, and high gloss characteristics,” Bean said. “Doing this will reduce the need for plastics, which will lower overall costs and result in a source reduction of plastics, also making it environmentally friendly.”

In the past, coatings were not noticeable to a consumer—they just added important durability to the packaging. They helped protect whatever was inside the packaging and sometimes added a nice gloss, but their primary job went undetected. That’s changing.

Bob Waddington, general manager, UVitec Printing Ink, has noticed that coatings which add a new feel to the packaging have become quite popular with his customers over the past few years. When special coatings, like dome coatings, cure up to a raised surface, many design possibilities open up, offering greater benefits to the printer and the packaging itself. “Some of our UV dome coatings are very resilient and can even be used for switch covers as they can withstand repeated cycles of movement,” he said. In the last year alone, UVitec introduced three different dome/Braille coatings, he added.

More and more customers are asking for coatings with enhanced tactile benefits. However, they haven’t forgotten about the look of a packaging. Northwest Coating’s Stephen C. Lapin, Ph.D, vice president and technical director, said his company has recently developed a new UV curable coating that provides pearlescent and color-shifting appearances—a growing packaging trend. “Phantavison produces different effects depending on the viewing angle. High contrast color shifts appear with sharp changes in the viewing angles, while smooth changes occur with gradual curves,” he said.

A strong finish

Beyond the “beauty” and feel of the packaging, new coatings are still being developed to add wear strength to packaging. “We see a trend for UV and EB coatings that add high durability. This includes coatings with moisture and sunlight resistance for use on outdoor film bag applications,” said Lapin. “It also includes coatings with superior product resistance for label applications. These flexo-applied coatings are useful for labels on a variety of household cleaning and automotive products.”

Lapin also listed a few more trends in the coatings world that converters should add to their arsenal:

• Low odor and low extractable
UV- and EB-curable coatings for flexible packaging;

• High-speed UV-curable coatings. “As printing equipment runs faster, the cure response of UV coatings has been improved to provide good curing without the addition of additional lamps,” he said; and

• Receptive UV coatings, for thermal transfer printing of variable information and foil stamping.

UV coatings, alone, can do big things on press, however, a more established, but increasing trend is using them with UV inks, said Paul Robinson, section manager, energy-curable products, Wikoff Color Corp. “While it is not really a new trend, in-line UV coating over UV hybrid inks is still growing,” he said. “The one-step process has significant cost benefits over the older, two-step process of applying a water-based primer over conventional oil-based inks and the UV coating off line.” n

Resources

Alden & Ott Inks www.aldenottink.com

Craig Adhesives & Coatings www.craigadhesives.com

Environmental Inks and Coatings www.envinks.com

Fujifilm Sericol www.fujifilmsericol.com

Lamart Corp. www.lamartcorp.com

Northwest Coatings www.northwestcoatings.com

Rad-Cure Corp. www.radcure.com

Siegwerk Ink Packaging www.siegwerk.com

Sun Chemical Inc. www.sunchemical.com

UVitec www.uvitec.co.uk

Water Ink Technologies Inc. www.waterinktech.com