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Journal articles
Adhesion with purpose: The value of primers in sustainable flexible packaging, TAPPI Journal July 2025
ABSTRACT: Primers play a crucial role in flexible packaging by providing adhesion, enhancing performance, and improving the overall quality of packaging structures. As the packaging industry shifts towards more sustainable solutions, it brings new challenges for meeting adhesion requirements. Different types of sustainable materials, with their complicated physical and chemical properties, usually result in poor adhesion in extrusion coating or extrusion lamination, whether this is due to fast crystallization, secondary crystallization, low processing temperature, lack of functional groups, or a combination thereof. Water-based primers ensure that these innovations meet both functional and environmental standards for the packaging of tomorrow. Conventional water-based primers, including polyethyleneimine (PEI) and ethylene acrylic acid (EAA), offer significant advantages in sustainable packaging design by chemically modifying the surface of the substrate to enhance adhesion. In this study, we will discuss adhesion issues in three case studies involving sustainable packaging materials: (1) extrusion coating of polyvinyl alcohol (PVOH) on paper; (2) extrusion lamination of paper and metallized film with starch biopolymer; and (3) extrusion coating of polyhydroxyalkanoates (PHA) on paper. These cases represent three adhesion challenges related to sustainable materials, namely fast crystallization rate, low processing temperature, and secondary crystallization. A three-step adhesion improvement procedure was employed to identify the proper primer in each case study. This procedure included a wetting-out test with primer, an adhesion test, and an extrusion test with priming. In our results, strong fiber tearing or destructive bonds were achieved in each case with the help of water-based primers. These results demonstrate the value of water-based primers in enabling the transition to more sustainable packaging structures without compromising performance.
Journal articles
Market projections of cellulose nanomaterial-enabled products - Part 2: Volume estimates, TAPPI JOURNAL June 2014
Market projections of cellulose nanomaterial-enabled products - Part 2: Volume estimates, TAPPI JOURNAL June 2014
Journal articles
Rheological indicators to predict the extrusion coating performance of LDPE, TAPPI JOURNAL, December 2005, Vol. 4(12) (92 KB)
Rheological indicators to predict the extrusion coating performance of LDPE, TAPPI JOURNAL, December 2005, Vol. 4(12) (92 KB)
Journal articles
Downgauge paper overwrap films using mlldpe blends, TAPPI JOURNAL, April 2000, Vol. 83(4)
Downgauge paper overwrap films using mlldpe blends, TAPPI JOURNAL, April 2000, Vol. 83(4)
Journal articles
Local delamination in pharmaceutical blister packages • A thermomechanical theory on buckling of heat-sealed composite laminates in flexible packaging, TAPPI Journal July 2025
ABSTRACT: Pharmaceutical blister packages consist of cavities made from a thick polymeric form foil and a thin aluminum lid foil. Heat-sealing technology is usually used to bond the lid foil to the form foil. Occasionally, the sealed area shows buckling defects of the lid foil, which allow contamination to enter into the cavity. A contaminated product is a worst-case scenario for pharmaceutical production and must be avoided. We discuss a thermomechanical theory on buckling defects in blister packages and derive strategies to avoid these. The theory is based on the assumption that the seal of a blister packaging behaves like a laminate of thin composite layers under compressive load. Literature research on buckling of thin laminated films, thermal behavior of polymers, and seal strength of heat-sealed polymers provides the technical and physical background to elaborate the theory. The theory comprises three elements: an initial condition regarding thermal load and precedent defects; a buckling condition; and a crack propagation condition. The plausibility of the theory is verified using model calculations and heat-seal tests. The paper concludes with strategies against buckling of heat-sealed lid foils and an outlook on other applications in laminating and coating of polymer films.
Journal articles
Adhesion with purpose: The value of primers in sustainable flexible packaging, TAPPI Journal July 2025
ABSTRACT: Primers play a crucial role in flexible packaging by providing adhesion, enhancing performance, and improving the overall quality of packaging structures. As the packaging industry shifts towards more sustainable solutions, it brings new challenges for meeting adhesion requirements. Different types of sustainable materials, with their complicated physical and chemical properties, usually result in poor adhesion in extrusion coating or extrusion lamination, whether this is due to fast crystallization, secondary crystallization, low processing temperature, lack of functional groups, or a combination thereof. Water-based primers ensure that these innovations meet both functional and environmental standards for the packaging of tomorrow. Conventional water-based primers, including polyethyleneimine (PEI) and ethylene acrylic acid (EAA), offer significant advantages in sustainable packaging design by chemically modifying the surface of the substrate to enhance adhesion. In this study, we will discuss adhesion issues in three case studies involving sustainable packaging materials: (1) extrusion coating of polyvinyl alcohol (PVOH) on paper; (2) extrusion lamination of paper and metallized film with starch biopolymer; and (3) extrusion coating of polyhydroxyalkanoates (PHA) on paper. These cases represent three adhesion challenges related to sustainable materials, namely fast crystallization rate, low processing temperature, and secondary crystallization. A three-step adhesion improvement procedure was employed to identify the proper primer in each case study. This procedure included a wetting-out test with primer, an adhesion test, and an extrusion test with priming. In our results, strong fiber tearing or destructive bonds were achieved in each case with the help of water-based primers. These results demonstrate the value of water-based primers in enabling the transition to more sustainable packaging structures without compromising performance.
Journal articles
Using dynamic mechanical spectroscopy to improve the performance of hot melt adhesives, TAPPI JOURNAL March 1989
Using dynamic mechanical spectroscopy to improve the performance of hot melt adhesives, TAPPI JOURNAL March 1989
Journal articles
Using the solubility parameter to design polyvinylidene chloride copolymers for improved hot tack performance in coatings, TAPPI JOURNAL, April 1990, Vol. 73(4)
Using the solubility parameter to design polyvinylidene chloride copolymers for improved hot tack performance in coatings, TAPPI JOURNAL, April 1990, Vol. 73(4)
Conference papers
Adhesives for sanitary napkins, TAPPI JOURNAL, August 1990, Vol. 73(8)
Adhesives for sanitary napkins, TAPPI JOURNAL, August 1990, Vol. 73(8)
Journal articles
Polymers, laminations and coatings conference, TAPPI JOURNAL, January 1990, Vol. 73(1)
Polymers, laminations and coatings conference, TAPPI JOURNAL, January 1990, Vol. 73(1)