Metalprint gives packaging added shelf impact
communicated through increasingly sophisticated packaging as a
means of extending market reach, high technology finishes such as
Iggesund Paperboard's new PET laminated paperboard are growing in
popularity.
The Sweden-based company has developed a new grade of metalprint based paperboard called Invercote Duo. The new line is said to be stiffer than other products within the same family and is also triple coated on both the print and reverse side.
The company says that the key fact to its development is that it is a laminate. This means that it is made of two sheets of paperboard whose reverse sides are glued together, then covered with silver PET foil, with an added triple-coated reverse side.
"The combination of stiffness, metallic surface and excellent printing properties is in great demand for prestige packaging,"said Christer Bengtsson, product coordinator for packaging at Iggesunds Bruk.
"Our ordinary Metalprint has been very well received by the market and there has been great interest in obtaining it in the grammage range represented by Metalprint Duo. We have done a number of successful test printings."
The new paperboard comes in dimensions from 370 to 770g/m2, a thickness that exceeds most standard industry sizes and which should prove particularly suitable to the packaging of premium products as a means of conveying a higher standard of quality.
Bengtsson explained some of the challenges of working with packaging material of both this thickness and with the metallised foil: "The metallised foil is a sensitive material and must go through our entire process without being damaged," he said.
"This demands a high degree of precision. We have also developed a paperboard with metallised foil on both the print and reverse sides of Invercote Duo, and that demands even greater precision."
Iggesund produces the laminated Metalprint Duo at its production facility in Strömsbruk, northern Sweden, 300km north of Stockholm. The company says that its knowledge of plastic extrusions has helped it to develop the Metalprint technology.
This is because traditional film lamination is glued to the paperboard, whereas the Metalprint film is stuck with the aid of plastic. This in turn also means that the coating tends to be more forgiving than using a gluing process, leading to a smoother finish and finer end result.
Bengtsson, said that, for reasons relating to the quality finish, the packaging has already proved popular for products in both the prestige and luxury cosmetics market.
