Silicone coating process
Silicone coated release paper and film (the liner) is used globally for applications as diverse as adhesive labels for envelopes, medical plasters, and baby’s nappies. The thin silicone coating protects the adhesive until it is required to be used in the application, and since silicone is a relatively expensive material, tight quality control is required to ensure cost-effective optimisation of the manufacturing process.
The Lab-X series of instruments have for over 20 years provided the majority of the global release liner manufactures with a simple to use, very stable, and totally reliable way to closely control the silicone coating. In fact the Lab-X, due to its enviable reputation for field proven reliability, and ease of use, has almost become the “industry standard” way to monitor and control silicone coatings.
The Lab-X3500 uses the well established and respected analytical technique of Energy Dispersive X-ray fluorescence (EDXRF) whose benefits include; simple or no sample preparation, no potentially hazardous chemicals, no weighting or volumetric measurements, and fast analysis. For silicone on paper, analysis simply involves cutting out a disk, placing the disc in a sample holder and loading the holder into the Lab-X. Results are available within two minutes and the instrument can be operated by production staff.
The X-Supreme8000 measures Silicone on paper and films with equal ease and in addition has a 10 position sample carousel for multi-sample unattended analysis, and an integrated PC for storage of results, etc.
Optimised silicone on paper application packages are available for both instruments covering silicone on paper and film, clay coated, and the determination of silicone extractables.