LAMINATES VERSUS

COEXTRUDED FILMS
Guided By
Prof. Laxmi Ananthanarayan
Presented By
Sagar Badnakhe
17FET113
INTRODUCTION
 The last 50 years have seen major changes in the way
that food is produced with a corresponding growth in
pre-packaged food. These changes have driven an
increasing sophistication in food packaging.
 This creates a need for packaging that can extend the
shelf life, which is cost friendly and food friendly.
 These changing requirements for packaging could not be
achieved with single material and which gives rise to
multilayer packaging material.
COEXTRUDED FILMS
 In this process, two or more different plastic granules are
heated and melted separately. The melts are brought
together either before or at the die lips so that the
combined plastics are extruded as a single product – a
multilayer web of plastic film or sheet.
 The two methods for extruding multilayer films are cast
extrusion and blown extrusion.
COEXTRUDED FILMS
 The coextrusion process involves multiple extruders and
multiple materials (depending on the structure), and the
molten material is channeled through the melt pipes to
create a laminar flow for the coextrusion feed block and die
technology to weld the extrudates into a one-piece
structure. When multiple material layers are combined, the
end result yields in a multi-layer structure deriving distinct
properties from each material used in the structure.
 During the extrusion of these plastics materials, the cooling
is required which is achieved by feeding the material
through the cooling rolls, also known as the stack rolls or
chill rolls. These rolls deliver the required cooling in
addition to determining the sheet thickness and the surface
texture.
COEXTRUDED FILMS

Fig. shows the coextrusion process.

COEXTRUDED FILMS

Fig. shows the chilling process.

LAMINATES
 Lamination is the process of applying a multilayer
coextruded lamination film to a desired substrate such as
paper, plastics, ceramic, metal, etc. via heat, pressure or
a combination of both.
 Depending on the required property enhancement, a
lamination method is selected to weld the lamination
structure and the substrate together such as adhesive
lamination, wax lamination, thermal lamination.
LAMINATES
 A curtain of molten polymer is extruded from a flat die onto the
primary web of material. At the same time, the secondary web is
fed in from the other side. The three layers are pressed against a
chilled drum by an impression roll. The molten polymer
solidifies, bonding the two webs together. After trimming of the
edges, the laminate is wound.
 The webs are combined at a lamination nip i.e. typically two
rolls pressed against each other under a controlled temperature,
pressure and gap.
 Since the web is combined using just the heat and pressure from
the stack/chill roll, it is important that the lamination web has
low thermal properties so that the preheating caused from the
stack roll and pressure will thermally laminate and create a
strong bond soon after it exits the stack roll and pull roll system.
LAMINATES

Fig. shows lamination process.

DIFFERENCE BETWEEN
Coextrusion Extrusion Lamination

High output rate with exceptional bond Moderate output rate for effective bond
and material properties. strength.

Less equipment to maintain if added on

Complex equipment requiring
line as extrusion thermal lamination
continued maintenance.
process.

Longer setup time. Setup time is short and easy.

High capital investment for equipment,

Lower capital investment and more
materials and storage. But reduces
diverse range of lamination equipment
material handling and machine time
and film options.
cost.

In this method non plastic materials In this method non plastic materials like
cannot be combined with plastic paper, aluminum foil, etc. can be
materials. combined with plastic materials.
REFERENCES
 Materials Multilayer Packaging for Food and Beverages, Commissioned by the ILSI Europe
Packaging Materials Task Force.
 https://blog.icpg.co/processing-of-barrier-packaging-materials

 Manufacturing Parts from Melt-processible Fluoropolymers by Sina Ebnesajjad Ph.D., Pradip

R. Khaladkar, in Fluoropolymers Applications in the Chemical Processing Industries, 2005

 https://www.pardos-marketing.com/paper_b03.htm#:~:text=Coextrusion%20is%20an
%20economical%20competitor,into%20a%20two-layer%20structure.

 Multilayer packaging: Advances in preparation techniques and emerging food applications by

T. Anukiruthika, Priyanka Sethupathy, Anila Wilson, Kiran Kashampur.

 Ajitha, A. R., Aswathi, M. K., Maria, H. J., Izdebska, J., & Thomas, S. (2016). Multilayer
polymer films. In Multicomponent polymeric materials (pp. 229– 258). Dordrecht: Springer.

 https://www.sciencedirect.com/topics/materials-science/coextrusion

THANK YOU