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Coating & Laminating

How to achieve consistent quality, repeatability in hot-melt, slot-die coating


By Mike Budai, coating & lamination manager, ITW Dynatec he key to successful coating and laminating production is developing a front-end process that is both consistent and repeatable from installation onward. This article examines the fundamental variables involved in the coating or lamination process that affect the consistency of the outcome. For the purposes of this article, focus is on hotmelt applications using slot-die technology, particularly variables of the die, the fluid-delivery system and pressure controls. They must all work in harmony with one another to produce consistent results. Hot-melt fluids and fluid delivery An important variable of slot-die coating when using hot melt is proper heat conditioning of the adhesive. Heat conditioning is a term for bringing the adhesive to the desired temperature prior to its application to the substrate. It is a very common misconception that once the heating grids inside the adhesive melter indicate they have reached a desired temperature that you are ready to begin production. Grid temperature, however, does not indicate adhesive temperature. The key to proper heat conditioning is that the entire volume of adhesive in the system also has time to reach the same desired temperature level. And because different types of adhesive take on and retain heat better than others, some may require more heat-soak time to stabilize the temperature before applying adhesive to the substrate.

crystalline in nature. An amorphous adhesive will slowly absorb heat while a crystalline-type adhesive will be very resistant to heat until a certain temperature is reached. While it is important to drive heat into the adhesive to reach a consistent temperature, it is equally vital to not overheat the adhesive to a point where there is degradation of the adhesion properties, or even worse, charring. Either one of these conditions will result in inconsistent quality in the final product. To prevent any type of inconsistency in temperature or heat degradation, the following guidelines should be used: Melt on Demand is a patented equipment technology in which only the required adhesive is melted to meet production requirements. Avoid crockpot-type melters where only the perimeter of the tank is heated, requiring very high temperatures around the outside to drive heat to the middle of the tank, often leading to heat degradation and/or charring of adhesive. Choose a melter with the highest wattage and the most interior, heated-surface area for maximum adhesive contact; the larger the heated-surface area and the greater the wattage, the more consistent will be the temperature profile of the adhesive. To fully ensure consistent temperature prior to application, an immersion sensor should be placed at the die entrance to constantly measure adhesive temperature in the fluid stream. The immersion sensor should tie back to the grid network via closed-loop controls to automatically adjust temperature settings and guarantee consistent output.

There is no simple equation to calculate an adhesives heat-soak time.


There is no simple equation to calculate an adhesives heatsoak time, but one determining component is a standard ring-and-ball test to define the softening point of the adhesive, typically provided by the vendor. This serves as an indicator of the adhesives ability to absorb heat. The second component is the adhesives composition and whether it is amorphous or

System pressure The second key variable that requires consistency for a repeatable process is system pressure. The fluid-delivery system must be able to provide consistent pressure to the slot die to achieve peak production quality. Variables that can cause fluctuation in system pressure are commonly tied to the gear pump on the adhesivesupply unit. Whenever a single pump stream to the slot die is split or several pumps are used to feed a single slot-die opening, continued on page 30 u accuracy is decreased.
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To combat this, there are several different ways to achieve accurate and repeatable pressure in your process. The first item is the pump itself; only precision gear pumps with a tolerance range of 1-2 percent accuracy per revolution should be used. In addition, a pressure transducer should be installed at the die entrance to constantly monitor inlet pressure. This readout should be tied into a closed-loop controller that feeds back to the melter and automatically adjusts the pump RPMs to maintain an exact pressure to the die each and every time. Other variables within the adhesive delivery system also play a role in providing consistent quality when slot-die coating with hot-melt adhesive. They include: Line speed tracking: Its imperative that the adhesive-supply unit be capable of accepting a signal from the parent webhandling equipment, in the form of a voltage signal or pulses from an encoder. Because web speed is never completely consistent, its critical that the adhesive-supply unit has the ability to read signals and automatically adjust output so that the net coatweight never changes, regardless of the variance in web speed. Automatically controlled ball valve: This device should be coupled with the control scheme of an adhesive supply-unit at the entrance to the slot die itself. There are multi-faceted benefits to this device on any adhesive-coating system. In the event of a line stop, the ball valve can be automatically closed while still operating the pump, providing the correct pressure to the ball valve. Once the line restarts (i.e. a roll change), the ball valve is signaled to open. Because it has maintained the correct pressure, accurate coating can continue, virtually eliminating product scrap. The ball valve can be opened at any speed signal. Automatic scheduling system: This unit automatically turns itself on prior to a shift, bringing the system to temperature and properly conditioning the adhesive before the scheduled startup. All in all, applying the factors above concerning the adhesivesupply system will yield the repeatable production process required for the consistent quality your company and customers demand. n Mike Budai, coating and lamination manager for ITW Dynatec (Hendersonville, TN), is a graduate of Business Management from Bowling Green State University. He has worked with Teledyne Corp., developing several patents on hydro-pneumatic cylinder systems and also has worked with Wright Industries as a sales engineer developing proposals and ROI analyses for automated assembly and process systems. He currently serves on the INDA board of directors. Mike can be reached at 615338-0950, fax: 615-264-5249, email: mbudai@itwdynatec.com, www.itwdynatec.com

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