HEAT SEAL LAQUERS

How the packaging industry is tackling current and future demands on the market

Coatings for food packaging have to ensure the optimum interplay between appearance, processability, and safety for both consumers and the environment. Convenience (user-friendly handling) is also a major factor.

The appearance of packaging not only heavily influences consumers’ purchasing behavior, but must also reflect the marketing of the brand owner, i.e. the end customer. However, another key consideration besides how coatings can be used to customize the look of packaging is how they can best be modified to suit the converter’s machinery and thus ensure impeccable processing.

The finished packaging must also protect the contents against oxygen, light, and bacteria. The market faces major challenges when it comes to ruling out any adverse health (migration of chemical substances into the contents) and environmental effects of packaging coatings. Factors such as direct contact with food and compliance with food regulations are the primary considerations in developing safe product solutions.

As convenience is also a major consideration on the packaging market, food packaging has to be user-friendly and easy to handle. Cheese packaging that’s a struggle to open or yogurt pot lids that rip as they’re peeled off go against the current convenience mindset.


ACTEGA Rhenania has decades of experience in developing and manufacturing coatings for food packaging, and supplies heat seal lacquers (HSLs) for many applications. Whether for sealing blisters, lids, portion packaging (including pet food), or other wrappings, ACTEGA offers safe and user-friendly options.

ACTEGA heat seal lacquers are available worldwide, are suitable for use with all the usual sealing counterparts, and comply with the statutory food regulations in each country. They are processed using coil or sheet coating techniques.

The ACTEGA field sales force is highly trained and provides global technical support, including on-site support, for developing customized product solutions for both converters and end customers.


New-generation HSLs

State-of-the-art, high-speed filling machines present new challenges for HSLs.

The operating speeds of state-of-the-art filling plants have increased considerably in the space of just a few years. The new heat seal lacquers have to withstand this increased throughput rate by providing the same performance at a lower sealing temperature and in less time. Today’s faster machines also call for an optimal coefficient of friction (COF). ACTEGA heat seal lacquers can be relied on to meet these requirements.


Frequently asked questions:

Can ACTEGA heat seal lacquers also be used in printing presses?
Yes – ACTEGA supplies products that are specially designed for use in printing presses.

What are spacer coatings needed for?
Not being able to process lids smoothly in a machine is a problem that costs manufacturers a lot of time and money. If lids get stuck together, they won’t always come apart again during the filling process. Spacer coating, which is applied to the inside surface of the lid (e.g. in the form of small dots, as shown in the picture below), improves the infeed rate and flow of lids into the plant. 

The advantage to printing a spacer heat seal lacquer onto the inside surface of the lids – as opposed to embossing – is that it leaves no visible trace on the outer surface of the lid (an embossed pattern would show through), so it doesn’t interfere with the printed design.

Spacer coatings on the inside make lids easier to process in the filling plant.

Do ACTEGA heat seal lacquers come in different colors with the same performance characteristics?

ACTEGA offers a wide selection of pigments that are certified for use with foods. This means that even colored heat seal lacquers meet statutory food safety requirements.



Technical Information

  • Substrate:    90 µm non-chromated foil
  • Average coat weight:    9g / m²
  • Upper jaw:    130 °C covered with Teflon
  • Lower Jaw:    130 °C covered with Teflon
  • Sealing time:    1 second 600N forc

Company

ACTEGA Rhenania develops and manufactures coatings and adhesives for food, pet food, and pharmaceuticals packaging. ACTEGA Rhenania specializes in products intended for direct contact with food and in pigmented product solutions in an almost unlimited range of colors.


Brand

ACTEseal® covers a wide range of heat seal lacquers –  whether aqueous or solvent-based, transparent or colored. ACTEGA provides customized product solutions to suit the packaging contents and plants in question.


Approvals for use with food

ACTEGA’s products comply with the following food regulations:

  • FDA 175.105
  • FDA 175.300
  • EU 10/2011/EC
  • Swiss Ordinance SR.817.023.21
  • China GB 9685-2016


ACTEGA heat seal lacquers fulfill the following specific requirements

  • BPA-NI
  • PVC-free / containing PVC
  • Nonylphenol-free
  • High solids content
  • Bullet points
  • Block-resistant
  • Good hot-tack properties
  • For food, pet food, and pharmaceutical packaging
  • Approved for use with food
  • Approved for use with pharmaceuticals
  • Aqueous
  • Solvent-based
  • Transparent
  • Colored
  • Heat-seal
  • Low-temperature seal (LTS)
  • Easy-peel
  • Sterilizable
  • Suitable for use in microwaves and ovens
  • Highly tear-resistant
  • Highly puncture-resistant
What factors determine the right choice of heat seal lacquer?



Do any regional restrictions apply to purchasing ACTEGA heat seal lacquers?

Which are the advantages of ACTEGA’s new Heat Seal System for Peel-Off Ends?

  • Extremely good seal strength starting at low sealing temperatures 120°C
  • BPA-Ni
  • Visible footprint
  • Easy to handle
  • Excellent performance / price ratio

Lids


Typical applications of lids refer to yoghurts, bottles or fresh meat. Particular demands are made on dairy products with regard to taste, freshness and natural appeal.

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