Talking about the Anti-counterfeiting Property of the Label in the Mould and the Characteristics of Its Printing Technology

In Mould Label (IML) is a special label that uses a hot melt solid adhesive to bond with the surface of a plastic bottle when it is made into a bottle body, and is integrated with the bottle body in the mold. The most important feature of using plastic bottles with in-mold labels is that the label and bottle body are on the same surface, and there is no label. The color pattern is printed directly on the surface of the bottle body.

First, the characteristics of the in-mold label

1. Aesthetics The traditional labels are in the form of heat-shrinkable labels, direct screen printed labels, and self-adhesive labels. The direct screen printing label directly prints the pattern and the text on the container packaging through the screen printing method. The overall effect is good, and the pattern and the text have the texture, but it is difficult to reflect the delicate pattern and the fineness by the limitation of the screen printing. Text, when printing more colors, the use of direct screen printing is more expensive. Heat shrink film is used as a label, and its cost is lower than adhesive label and direct screen printed label, but the heat shrinkable label is easily damaged, the overall image is not very good, and it is not conducive to environmental protection; self-adhesive label can be perfect Reflects the requirements of the exquisite label, but its cost is more expensive than the heat shrinkable film label.

The close integration between the in-mold label and the bottle body has the overall effect of direct screen printing, and it can perfectly embody fine patterns and small texts like stickers. Since the in-mold label is combined with the bottle body, it is less likely to be damaged or detached than the self-adhesive label and the heat shrinkable label, and the label can be kept intact and beautiful for a long time.

2, anti-counterfeiting

The use of in-mold labels requires special molds, and the cost of this mold is higher to achieve cost-proof functions. At the same time, the in-mold label printing process is more difficult than traditional labels, and thus serves the purpose of anti-counterfeiting.

3, environmental protection

There are many types of materials for in-mold labels. Common plastic containers have matching in-mold label materials with the same composition. At the same time, since labels are combined with containers, the recycling efficiency of bottles is higher.

4, limitations Traditional labels are glued to the surface of the container by adhesive, the in-mold label tightly binds the label and the container together. The sales situation of the product is not as good as expected. If a self-adhesive label is used, only some labels will be wasted, and a new batch of labels can be reprinted on the unused bottle, and if the bottle body is not satisfied, Only the bottle body can be changed and the label can continue to be used. In this case, if an in-mold label is used, it is likely to cause a large amount of waste of the bottle body and the label. Containers made by blow molding process If the use of in-mold labels is required, the curvature of the container must be taken into account. If the curvature of the container is too large, such as a round bottle, during the in-mold labeling process, if the exhaust is difficult, the in-mold label should not be used. In addition, the volume of the blow-molded containers is too large, and it is not particularly suitable to use in-mold labels.

Second, the label printing technology

The in-mold label is to embed the printed label into the container during the blow molding or injection molding process so that the label and the container are integrated. The basic process of in-mold labeling in the blowing process: the pre-printed in-mold labels (pre-labels and back labels) are stacked in a single sheet format and placed in the two label boxes of the in-mold labeling machine. . With the opening of the bottle mold, the robot picks up the front label and the back label, the label printing surface faces inwards, the solid adhesive surface faces outwards and is placed on both sides of the mold. The vacuum hole on the mold firmly holds the label. In the mold. When the raw material of the plastic bottle is heated and hangs down in a hose-like form, the labelled mold quickly closes and the air is blown into the hose so that it closely contacts the mold wall. This is the blow molding process. At this time, the temperature in the entire mold is still relatively high, and the label-shaped solid adhesive close to the preform of the bottle body starts to melt and is combined with the plastic bottle body. When the mold is opened again, the plastic bottle body is molded and the label is integrated with the bottle body.

In-mold label material selection

The film materials used for in-mold labeling are classified into two major categories: paper and film. Ordinary synthetic paper has poor surface smoothness, low strength, no elastic deformation, and is not suitable for high-grade color printing, and is generally suitable for applications of large-area barrels. The unique multi-layer co-extruded face material of film material has a smooth surface suitable for a variety of printing methods, and the process of label processing will not cause overprinting or inaccurate die cutting due to deformation, among which materials such as Primax, FasClear, etc. can be stretched and contracted. The plastic bottle body can be deformed along with the deformation of the bottle body, and the wrinkling of the label will not appear on the surface of the bottle body. The surface of the film material does not absorb ink, so the label printed by the film material has a bright color, a strong three-dimensional effect, and the color effect is obviously better than the paper material, and is suitable for high-end color printing and generally suitable for various kinds of delicate products. PE, PP or a combination of PE and PP.

Source: 21st Century Fine Chemicals Network