Cold roll laminators
Encyclopedia
Cold Roll Laminators use a plastic
film which is coated with an adhesive
and glossy
backing which does not adhere to the glue. When the glossy backing is removed, the adhesive is exposed, which then sticks directly onto the item which needs to be laminated. This method, apart from having the obvious benefit of not requiring expensive equipment, is also suitable for those items which would be damaged by heat
. Cold laminators range from simple two roller, hand crank machines up to large and complex motor driven machines with high precision rollers, adjustable roller pressure and other advanced features.
Cold lamination increased in popularity with the rise of wide format inkjet printers, which often used inks and papers incompatible with hot lamination. A large percentage of cold laminate for use in the print industry is PVC, although a wide range of other materials are available. Cold laminating processes are also used outside of the print industry, for example coating sheet glass or stainless steel
with protective films.
Cold roll laminators are also used for laying down adhesive films in the sign making industry, for example mounting a large print onto a board. A practiced operator can apply a large adhesive sheet in a fraction of the time it takes to do so by hand.
Plastic
A plastic material is any of a wide range of synthetic or semi-synthetic organic solids used in the manufacture of industrial products. Plastics are typically polymers of high molecular mass, and may contain other substances to improve performance and/or reduce production costs...
film which is coated with an adhesive
Adhesive
An adhesive, or glue, is a mixture in a liquid or semi-liquid state that adheres or bonds items together. Adhesives may come from either natural or synthetic sources. The types of materials that can be bonded are vast but they are especially useful for bonding thin materials...
and glossy
Gloss (material appearance)
Gloss is an optical property, which is based on the interaction of light with physical characteristics of a surface. It is actually the ability of a surface to reflect light into the specular direction. The factors that affect gloss are the refractive index of the material, the angle of incident...
backing which does not adhere to the glue. When the glossy backing is removed, the adhesive is exposed, which then sticks directly onto the item which needs to be laminated. This method, apart from having the obvious benefit of not requiring expensive equipment, is also suitable for those items which would be damaged by heat
Heat
In physics and thermodynamics, heat is energy transferred from one body, region, or thermodynamic system to another due to thermal contact or thermal radiation when the systems are at different temperatures. It is often described as one of the fundamental processes of energy transfer between...
. Cold laminators range from simple two roller, hand crank machines up to large and complex motor driven machines with high precision rollers, adjustable roller pressure and other advanced features.
Cold lamination increased in popularity with the rise of wide format inkjet printers, which often used inks and papers incompatible with hot lamination. A large percentage of cold laminate for use in the print industry is PVC, although a wide range of other materials are available. Cold laminating processes are also used outside of the print industry, for example coating sheet glass or stainless steel
Stainless steel
In metallurgy, stainless steel, also known as inox steel or inox from French "inoxydable", is defined as a steel alloy with a minimum of 10.5 or 11% chromium content by mass....
with protective films.
Cold roll laminators are also used for laying down adhesive films in the sign making industry, for example mounting a large print onto a board. A practiced operator can apply a large adhesive sheet in a fraction of the time it takes to do so by hand.
See also
- Lamination
- Pouch laminatorsPouch laminatorsA pouch laminator uses a lamination pouch that is usually sealed on one side. The inside of the lamination pouch is coated with a heat-activated film that adheres to the product being laminated as it runs through the laminator. The substrate side of the board contains a heat-activated adhesive that...
- Heated roll laminators