Metalprint Duo - For Gleaming Elegance and Heavy Contents

12 Oct 2006

Invercote Duo comes in grammages from 370 to 770 g/m2, in which the upper register represents a thickness, stiffness and grammage that exceed what Iggesund Paperboard can produce on its board machines.

12/10/06 Iggesund Paperboard has developed a grade of Metalprint based on Invercote Duo at its Strömsbruk facility. Invercote Duo is stiffer than its relatives in the same product family and is also triple coated on both the print and reverse side. The secret is that Invercote Duo is a laminate, that is, it is made of two sheets of paperboard whose reverse sides have been glued together. This laminate is now available covered with gleaming silver PET foil and with a triple-coated reverse side.

“The combination of stiffness, metallic surface and excellent printing properties is in great demand for prestige packaging,” explains 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 metallised foil is a sensitive material and must go through our entire process without being damaged,” Bengtsson says. “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 Paperboard’s Strömsbruk facility also laminates other products as well as the Duo ones. These include plastic-coated paperboard, where the plastic is used as a barrier in various food packaging applications. It is this knowledge of plastic extrusion which is the basis for the quality of Metalprint. In a traditional film lamination process the film is glued to the paperboard, whereas the Metalprint film is adhered with the aid of plastic. All film lamination emphasises inconsistencies in the paperboard surface, but plastic coating tends to be more forgiving than gluing as an adhesive method.

“Invercote’s triple-coated surface is a good starting point, and our lamination method gives an excellent final result,” comments Ola Buhrman, who led the Metalprint development projects.

Christer Bengtsson agrees, concluding: “Metalprint has slowly but surely begun to take market share in the luxury goods segment. It not only gives unique silver effects, it is also a very interesting base which gives lustre and brilliance to the inks that are printed on it. We have already seen productions in both cosmetics and prestige packaging that make use of this.”