Cold-Seal Adhesives - Ushering In A Better World for Medical and Dental Packaging

The packaging pros are continuously working on new ways to package medical and dental products, and this has been a continuing challenge for them. Although they don’t have a problem rolling out carton sealers and taping machines for the consumer industry, the unique nature of medical and dental products and applications keep the packaging design engineers on their feet. One specific area they’ve had a tough time with is finding the right material and adhesive combination.

Cold Seal Adhesives – Medical and Dental Packaging’s Best Option

But now, design engineers are veering towards cold-seal adhesives. The cold seal technology has so far been known for its low cost, high bonding rate, and low temperature – three factors that make it a promising alternative to traditional sealing technologies. But engineers also found that this new technology solves several design problems in medical and dental packaging.

Cold-seal adhesives are made using a combination of synthetic rubber and a variety of adhesive components. In the past, natural latex rubber was used for this process, but this was banned from medical packaging back in 1999 due to the allergens commonly found in natural latex.

These adhesives feature a special type of pressure-sensitive adhesive that can form a very strong bond despite requiring very slight pressure at normal room temperature. But what’s unique about them is that the base polymer they use bonds only to itself. This means they will not bond with other substrates, which eliminates several problems in storage and assembly. Thus, they can be used without liners and without causing damage to the sensitive medical and dental products they house.

Cold seal adhesives come in different types. They are currently available in paper film, transparent carrier film, transparent plastic film, and other paper and plastic combinations. They also differ based on sealing forces, which range from 0.5N/15mm to 4.0N/15mm.

Assembly and Labeling – Other Important Considerations

After the design, however, comes another challenge: assembly. This is another common challenge for the medical and dental packaging industry, where factors such as antimicrobial protection come into play. The common assembly process used in cold seal adhesive packaging is ultrasonic welding, which provides a strong effective seal without using heat. Ultrasonic welding is also a top option for antimicrobial packaging as it minimizes seal contamination, minimizes rejects, and streamlines production.

Ultrasonic welding is a process that uses high-frequency, low-amplitude vibration to heat the area between the materials that need to be joined. The process is fast, clean, and can be used even for small objects.

After assembly, important considerations have to be made when it comes to labeling medical and dental products. It is crucial that the labels be tamper-evident and pressure-sensitive.The packaging design process is challenging enough as it is, with common concerns such as production efficiency and cost effectiveness, but the stakes are even higher in the medical and dental industry. Thankfully, design engineers continue to strive for new developments that help enhance production and eliminate the common challenges in packaging. 

Signs of the Times: How Packaging Machinery Stats Jumped in 2011 and Why You Should Be Part of These Stats

For business owners, manufacturers, and entrepreneurs, new interesting statistics may give you more reason to invest in your own automated carton sealers and taping machines.

Updated statistics show that shipments of packaging machinery in the United States rose by 19% in the previous year.

Perhaps the increasing demand for automated systems or the necessity of cutting costs due to the recession both have something to do with this increase, but the bottom line is, the demand for automated taping machines and other types of packaging systems is increasing. More and more companies are jumping into the bandwagon, proving that automated packaging is the way of the future.

According to PMMI’s 2012 Shipments Study, shipments of U.S. packaging machinery peaked at $7.7 billion in 2011; this is 19% higher than figures recorded in 2010. Additionally, it was found that the local market also experienced a 23% climb to $8.8 billion.

What didn’t change was how the market was – or is still is – distributed. It is interesting for packaging business owners to note that food packaging still accounts for the highest demand in the market. It makes up 36% of overall packaging demand, and is closely followed by beverage packaging at 24%. Together, the two categories make up almost 60% of the sales in the packaging market. It is also interesting to note that the food industry takes the backseat when it comes to blister packaging, skin packaging, or vacuum forming packaging, which were found to be more in demand in the medical and pharmaceutical markets.

These additional details, however, don’t change the fact that while several markets continue to struggle, the packaging industry seems immune to the economic downturn. This further proves that automated packaging is one of the wisest, most practical business investments that business owners like you can make at this time.

More Expansion Opportunities

Aside from the taping machines and sealing systems, two other closely related markets have experienced a rise in 2011.

The first is the container manufacturing market, which rose to $760 million of revenue in 2011. This may give you an idea of what the bigger companies are also investing in. This market involves machines that are used to convert materials into containers.

The second is the coding, printing, marking, stamping, and imprinting market, with sales reaching up to $520 million.

Why Invest in Automated Packaging?

All these newly released statistics tell you one thing: automated packaging systems are becoming more useful and are now being increasingly incorporated into businesses. Since innovativeness and an ability to adapt to the changes in the market are both key factors in ensuring business success, it will certainly pay to also consider investing in your own packaging systems. And given the rapid rate of improvement in packaging technology, packaging systems nowadays do more than just pack; they also pack faster and more efficiently, thus improving their ROI.

So if you’re in the middle of expanding your business or you’re thinking of ways through which you can retain a competitive advantage or catch up with your competitors, the improved productivity and reduced costs that come with automating your packaging processes should be enough to convince you.

New LED Packaging Technology Discovered: Packaging And Performance That Goes Hand In Hand

The packaging industry is a tree of many branches, but it cannot be denied that some branches extend further faster than others. The LED packaging technology is one such branch because it has no choice but to move beyond the technology used in automated carton sealers and taping machines. LED technology has become one of the most prominent technologies as a result of an increased awareness of energy efficiency, and many researchers have willingly risen to the challenge of packaging this technology safely for global distribution.

Packaging that Does More

Their efforts have most recently led to the development of a new way of packaging LED that not only protects it during transport, but can also boost its performance. The new study, which was conducted by researchers in Taiwan, have discovered that a unique flip glass substrate used for packaging LED has demonstrated several key improvements in LED performance several aspects of LED performance.

Currently, most LED products distributed commercially are packaged using PLCCs or plastic leaded chip carriers, PCBS or printed circuit boards, and ceramic holders. These packages are partly non-transparent to make sure the LED light does not penetrate through the sides.

The new LED packaging technology recently discovered in Taiwan, however, moves away from this design and instead uses side walls made of fully transparent glass substrate covered with phosphor on the outside. It then has a cavity created to house the LED; this cavity is filled with silicon whose role is to protect the LED. When the LED has to be used, the packaging is simply flipped over so that the LED light can be emitted through the transparent glass.

Benefits of Newly Discovered LED Packaging Technology

Wider viewing angles. According to researchers, this latest discovery in LED packaging can provide a wider viewing angle of 140 degrees, compared to the 125-degree angle offered by 95% of conventional LED packaging used nowadays. This improvement is caused by the LED light’s penetrating through the side walls, thus reducing reflection loss – a common problem caused by non-transparent packaging material.

Better uniformity of colors. This new LED packaging technology has also exhibited better uniformity of the angular correlated color temperature. This is what determines the coolness and the warmth of the LED light. Due to its lower maximum deviation of just 1300 K compared to the 2500 K of other LED packaging materials, the color uniformity is improved. According to researchers, the phosphor coating is the reason behind this.

Improved quality evaluation and assurance. This new technology also allows producers to test the LED and the packaging separately before they are fitted together. This means that they are better able to identify flaws in production that may lead to color quality problems. This can help reduce the waste levels and the errors during fabrication.

This new LED packaging technology is not yet out in the market, as researchers still have to improve the material’s transmission and perform more tests on its reliability and heat dissipation abilities. These aspects will also determine whether this packaging technology can be used for higher-power LEDs.

If you are a business owner supplying various LED products, this new development will be of great interest to you. Staying up-to-date with the latest packaging technologies can help give you gain a competitive advantage over other players in your industry. 

Transporting and shipping would be another crucial consideration.  Buying a quality and dependable taping machine and acquiring an automated packaging system will help you in ensuring that products are handled well from the manufacturing side down to the market.