Effective and resource-efficient: Röhm’s new product for hot stamping

Röhm has been developing methacrylate-based binders for decades, which are internationally marketed under the DEGALAN^® brand. Demands on such binders are increasing as premium quality packaging with a brilliant print finish increases the appeal of products and creates incentive to buy. This in turn means added value for product suppliers, which is something that is becoming increasingly important.

The technical process involved is often much more complex than meets the eye. Conventional methods are no longer the only way to print modern lettering onto plastic parts, packaging and bottle labels; hot stamping is being used more and more to produce high-quality packaging in both food and cosmetics industries as well as for security features on event tickets and toll stickers.

This entails creating a multi-layer print structure on a carrier film, often made of polyester, and transferring this to the object at high pressure and high temperature with the aid of a stamping die. The carrier film detaches itself from the print layer and can be removed completely.

Using DEGALAN^® products as binders for the individual layers of coating results in sharply contoured images with brilliant colors. Depending on the binder applied, the film hardness of the protective coating is enhanced and so becomes more resistant to the high stamping temperature, i.e. adhesion to the polyester film is improved. The high-quality stamped designs produced in this way ensure excellent product recognition and offer protection against counterfeiting and product piracy.

Röhm has developed and launched the new DEGALAN^® M 810 to meet the specific needs of the Asian market, and China in particular. An interdisciplinary team of employees from Marketing, Customer Services, Application Technology and Innovation Management made this success possible.

According to Dr. Bruno Keller, Innovation Management Resins R&D at Röhm, the new binder needed to have several advantages over products already available on the market, “Due to potential contact with food and, in turn, the human body, it was important that the products didn't release any hazardous chemicals. The new binder also needed to demonstrate a direct adhesion to the carrier film ahead of the market as well as high heat resistance.”

Pilot customers in China were provided with test material early on in the product development process. The characteristics of the product were then further optimized using the insights gained from customer feedback.

As the new DEGALAN^® M 810 binder offers excellent resistance to heat, as well as good adhesion and residue-free removal of the carrier film, it functions as both a protective coating and a release layer. As a result, one less print layer is required, which saves on valuable raw materials – this product innovation allows Röhm to make a small contribution to the resource-efficient and cost-effective use of raw materials.

Learn more about DEGALAN^® here: www.degalan.com