Laser systems - Packaging & foil industry

But the packaging industry wants to provide customers with the opportunity to reach their desired products quickly and without effort, even with the use of multi-layered and tear-resistant sheets. This is where opening aids enter the picture. A specific scored structure that weakens the material at locations that have been clearly defined earlier can be introduced on the bearing layers of the foil using laser technology. The laser process, called scoring, can be directed very accurately at the physical properties of the individual sheet layers, enabling feasible stable high precision material weakening in depth in industrial production.
Bag and pouch packaging can therefore be provided with opening aids in the form of a scored structure, so that they can be easily opened by the end customer even without help. These scored structures can be introduced through machine processing in machine direction (MD), across the direction of the sheet (Cross Direction, CD) as well as in freely definable forms. Easy opening solutions are being used in increasingly more production areas and are correspondingly preferred by end customers.
The laser scoring for convenience products that are to be heated in microwave ovens is a similar application. The specific weakening of the microwave packaging, usually on the lid sheet, helps to release steam automatically while heating, making a quick setting available without danger of excess pressure in the packaging.

Furthermore, the maximum possible storage periods can be increased, which ultimately also serves to avoid any wastage of products. Laser perforations in the form of the smallest holes in the sheet material allow the specific exchange of atmospheric gases between the products and the product environment, creating a balance in the exchange of gases, so that the freshness of the products is retained over a longer period of time.
The MLT laser systems can be easily adapted to the required customer specifications via the software interface. The laser parameters such as perforation size, distance between perforations and the number of perforations per packaging are customised in this process. The perforated sheets or even pouch packaging can therefore be tailored optimally to the individual properties of every product and its need for gas exchange.
Modern CO2 lasers are used in the field of Modified Atmosphere Packaging (MAP). They can process the materials in the shortest impulses due to high laser performance and precision, so that the desired micro-perforations can be achieved reliably even at high speeds.