Corotec

It seems things are built so well these days that we hardly think about maintenance until something goes wrong. However, when your livelihood and the livelihood of your employees depends on your printing equipment functioning properly, the onset of system failure is not the time to be thinking maintenance. If you are in the business of converting certain types of films, foils, and even some papers into packaging, you know that before printing on any of these substrates, their surfaces must be treated in some way to improve their receptiveness to various inks, coatings, or adhesives. To ensure your surface-treating systems are working properly,

“Success depends upon previous preparation, and without such preparation there is sure to be failure.” The profound words of Confucius couldn’t better explain the importance of corona surface treatment prior to printing on plastic materials. With corona treating, or any surface treatment system, the goal is to increase the material’s surface energy to provide wettability and adhesion. But, treating a substrate can be ineffective when the system is not properly run and maintained. For this reason, converters should be aware of how to effectively process their materials. Over/Undertreating When a corona treating system transfers too much or too little energy to a substrate, a

BUMP TREATING IS a way of life in a package printing plant. Re-treating substrate surfaces before going to press helps provide a consistent and predictable print quality. Skipping it can leave a print job littered with pinholes, poor ink adhesion, and other printing blemishes. Progress made in recent years in surface treating equipment has extended the longevity of treatment applied following extrusion, but printers still rely on bump treatments for successful runs. In fact, according to Ralf Weber, marketing, Erhardt + Leimer Inc., the trend in surface treating leans more toward multiple treatments. This is due to several reasons, Weber said, including: • Increased printing

Surface treating technology makes printing on plastic substrates possible, but not just any off-the-shelf equipment will do. PRINTING ON FILMS without first treating the substrate surface is a lot like skydiving without a parachute. It's possible, but the result is going to be a mess. Luckily, there are several surface treating options, each with advantages for different applications. Of the three main kinds of treaters, corona treaters are the most common, according Tom Gilbertson, Enercon Industries Corp.'s vice president of applications engineering. They are used for most applications and are less expensive alternatives compared to atmospheric plasma and flame treaters. Atmospheric plasma

AAA PRESS INT'L AAA Press carries the full Enercon line of corona treaters and accessories, including the TL Max and XL Series Narrow Web Corona Treaters. These treaters feature easy electrode maintenance, increased treating power, and ducting for ozone removal. Surface tension measurement solutions are also available. Write 705, Visit www.aaapress.com, Corona Designs Aluminum, steel, or composite industrial rolls (treater, nip, and idler) up to 34˝ in diameter and an overall length of up to 370˝. Treater rolls include PowerTreat compound, PowerCoat epoxy, PowerTuf ceramic, silicone sleeves, or hypalon. Standard idler rolls include various finishes and special machined surfaces. Write 706, Visit www.coronadesigns.com Corotec

The wide range of substrates and ink systems being used makes corona treatment a key tool for package printers. by Tom Polischuk PACKAGE PRINTERS ARE dealing with a multitude of market conditions that have them pushing the envelope when it comes to the materials they run. Because of the need to hold onto business, replace lost business, or grow sources of new business, package printers are routinely running a wider variety of substrates, along with new inking systems. This includes a continuing trend toward the use of film substrates (including thinner gauge films and conductive foils) and new inks such as UV and water-based

These products and companies were the most sought-after in 2002 by packagePRINTING readers. Top 10: Prepress Equipment 1. Creo—PDF-based packaging workflow Prinergy Powerpack, copydot scanning systems, film imagers, and CtP devices 2. Agfa—Workflow and color management systems including the AgfaScan XY-15 Plus, Sherpa 43 Inkjet system, and Lithostar plates 3. Kodak Polychrome Graphics—Offers Digital and conventional plates, film, and proofing and color technologies including the Kodak Approval XP unit 4. BASF—Offers Nyloflex® and Nyloprint® equipment combinations for processing photopolymer flexo and letterpress plates and sleeves 5. MacDermid—Broad range of sheet, liquid, digital, and water-wash photopolymer plates, platemaking equipment, sleeves,

What products and companies were most sought-after in 2001 by packagePRINTING readers? Here's the scoop on the year's most-wanted technologies, ranked below based on responses to both editorial features and display advertising.*** TOP 10: Prepress Equipment 1. Anderson & Vreeland—Photopolymer plate processing systems, rubber plate molding presses, flexo platemaking materials, digital imaging systems and software 2. DuPont Cyrel—Photopolymer plate and prepress systems, including Cyrel FAST thermal technology 3. BASF—Nyloflex® and nyloprint® equipment combinations for processing flexo and letterpress plates and sleeves 4. MacDermid—Sheet, liquid, digital, and water-wash photopolymer plates, platemaking equipment, sleeves, and plate mounting systems for flexo printing 5. CreoScitex—PDF-based packaging

Flexibility—via stretches in compatibility and power—is the most sought-after surface treatment. by Susan Friedman How physically fit is surface treating technology? Package printers continue to find out, as suppliers heed the push to achieve higher power, higher treatment levels, and increased configuration flexibility. Jeff Opad, V.P. of sales and marketing at Pillar Technologies, confirms converters' demand for a flexible corona treating approach—particularly in the form of "convertible" or "universal" systems—solidly outweighs extruders' demand. Marc Nolan, sales manager at Sherman Treaters, views the convertible unit—one that affords transitioning between a bare roll and a covered roll system—as a practical system for converters having to deal

Surface treating equipment suppliers are looking in-depth at tough-to-treat substrates, newer ink preferences, and more do-it-all technologies. by Susan Friedman A teeming variety of substrates, particularly films, combined with interest in UV-/water-based inks and omnipresent efficiency emphasis all add up to reveal steadily more sides of surface treating. Corona treaters remain popular for reasons that likely extend from familiarity to versatility to economics—but gas flame treaters aren't without an established niche. "Despite some of the known advances of flame treaters, I believe corona treaters will remain in the forefront," states Marc Nolan, sales manager at Sherman Treaters, Ontario, Canada. "People have reservations with the