Functional and decorative coatings manufacturer Leonhard Kurz has jointly developed with machine maker Isimat a process called inline foiling for transferring metallic layers onto glass and plastic cylinders.
The patent pending process allows the inline application of metallic designs to cylindrical containers such as plastic tubes, glass bottles and drinking glasses during the silk-screen or flexographic printing process.
This is achieved by integrating an inline foiling unit into the multi-station printing machine.
The process involves three steps: First an ultra violet (UV) adhesive that has been especially developed for this process is applied to the cylindrical part.
Secondly, the part to be decorated is rolled underneath a specially developed foil and at the same time the adhesive is cured by UV light.
The metallic layer of the foil adheres only to those areas where the adhesive was applied, the rest remains on the carrier foil, which is wound up again.
In the third step, the part is overprinted and over-lacquered by means of multi-color silk-screen or flexographic printing.
The adhesive application, foil coating and lacquering operations are all integrated into the inline printing process, thereby enabling the decoration to be performed at a high speed.
While the inline foiling process does not require stamping dies, the setup time is marginally longer than the make-ready times for silk-screen printing.
A foil changeover can be completed in about 15 minutes.
Inline foiling decoration does not require the action of pressure or temperature and enables a high-quality finish to be achieved.
The direct-coating operation delivers a seamless and permanent decoration with a significantly higher quality finish than decals or labels.
The true-metal coating achieves a high gloss level and gives the appearance of a valuable precious metal.
The silver base color of the inline foiling coating enables a variety of gold hues and radiant metallic colors to be produced by overprinting.
Holographic foils in dazzling rainbow colors or diffractive designs can also be produced for this process.
