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Printing coatings
Inks & Coatings
Enabling packaging’s full performance potential.
Whether you aim to improve the recyclability, functionality, or efficiency of your packaging, reducing its complexity or just want to add a special extra touch to it, the right printing coatings can help to achieve the packaging performance you are looking for.
How print coatings can improve your packaging
Print coatings and varnishes can provide functional properties that are crucial for the performance and durability of packaging. They also play a key role in realizing a Circular Economy, for example by enabling the switch from multi- to mono-material packaging.
They can not only help to replace extra material layers, and thereby reduce packaging complexity, but also to equip renewable materials like paper with functional properties (see e.g. paperization), and thereby enable their use for a wider range of packaging applications.
Many coatings also help to maintain, or even improve, production efficiency during printing and packing. Others provide extraordinary visual or tactile effects making your printed packaging an eye-catcher on the shelf.
Siegwerk’s print coatings and varnishes portfolio
Siegwerk coatings are always designed to meet your individual requirements to unleash your packaging’s full performance potential.
Whatever you need, we offer high-quality products for a wide range of applications, substrates, and performances; from primers to functional and decorative coatings. All our innovations are developed delivering on consumer safety, functionality, and sustainability.
Our portfolio of printing coatings and varnishes covers water-based as well as solvent-based technologies for different coating processes and performance requirements.
- Barrier coatings e.g. against liquids, oil and grease, water vapor, oxygen and UV light
- Heat seal coatings e.g. for plastic films, fiber-based substrates, and aluminum foil
- Protection coatings e.g. for heat resistance, anti-scratch, anti-slip, and anti-static
- Primers for different substrates incl. plastic films, fiber-based substrates, and aluminum foil including delamination and deinking primers
- Effect coatings e.g. for haptic, high matt, or high gloss effects
Barrier coatings
Single and multi-functional coatings for all kinds of barrier requirements
Water-based solutions
To meet the needs of the paper, board, corrugated, and flexible packaging industries, we offer a variety of barrier coatings based on natural, renewable, or synthetic raw materials depending on the performance required. All of our barrier solutions can be supplied ready-to-use. This enables the use of existing application equipment such as coating, printing, and converting machines. Depending on the end use application and functional requirements needed, our barrier solutions enable recyclable and compostable packaging, and are suitable for food contact.
In some cases, a single barrier type is required for a packaging application, but in many others, a combination of several barrier types (such as water and water vapor resistance, or oil and grease resistance), as well as A/A and A/B sealability, are required. We can provide both single and multi-functional coatings with the combination of properties you need to enable your packaging to meet its full performance potential.
Most commonly measured using a “Cobb test”, resistance against liquids is very important to the packaging industry and one of the main requirements of barrier coatings when it comes to fiber-based packaging due to the hydrophilic nature of most papers and boards. Hot or cold, acidic or oily, liquid resistant packaging needs to keep fluids contained. We have different barrier coatings to resist different filling goods.
Much like liquid resistance, water vapor barriers are important for many fiber-based packaging applications due to the hydrophilic nature of most papers and boards. Essential for both filling goods (e.g. food) which are sensitive to moisture, and also to protect pack strength in high humidity environments, our products can be specifically adapted to your water vapor transmission rate (WVTR) requirements.
Another important requirement for packaging is resistance to oils, greases, and fats. Our barrier coatings can provide an alternative to fluorine chemical solutions (e.g. PFAS & PTFE) and polyolefins (e.g. PE, PP, & PET). Our water-based barrier coatings provide effective oil and grease resistance for many kinds of packaging applications from food service to frozen food, and even industrial packaging.
Oxygen transmission rates (OTR) are a central parameter of packaging structures when used for food applications and are often problematic to achieve within a switch to mono-olefin systems. With our printable oxygen barrier technologies you can achieve high OTR performance requirements of film packaging (e.g. polyolefins) and maintain shelf life requirements compared to non-recyclable packaging. Our oxygen barrier solutions can be applied inline and out of line for laminated as well as surface printed packaging structures enabling maximum process flexibility.
Solvent-based solutions
With our solvent-based coating solutions, we are combining our best-in-class know-how in the flexible packaging value chain with new technology innovations. This combination enables the realization of recyclable, high-performing and full PSR-compliant packaging without compromising on efficiency of production and packaging processes.
A major requirement of recycling ready packaging is the transformation from multi- to mono-material solutions (e.g. mono-polyolefin structures). The technical barrier properties of this new generation packaging will no longer be ensured by different film layers (e.g. aluminum), but have to be realized by thin film barrier coatings. We offer a variety of printable solvent-based barrier coatings for inline or out of line applications. Our solutions are always designed to sustain maximum process efficiency and comply to latest recycling standards.
Oxygen transmission rates (OTR) are a central parameter of packaging structures when used for food applications and are often problematic to achieve within a switch to mono-olefin systems. With our printable oxygen barrier technologies you can achieve high OTR performance requirements of film packaging (e.g. polyolefins) and maintain shelf life requirements compared to non-recyclable packaging. Our oxygen barrier solutions can be applied inline and out of line for laminated as well as surface printed packaging structures enabling maximum process flexibility.
Shelf life of many filling goods in the segments food, beverages and personal care are negatively affected by UV-light irradiation on the shelf, during transport or when stored at home. Our UV barrier solutions make it possible to realize visible light transparent packaging and save filling goods from harmful UV-radiation at the same time. Thus, appealing transparent packaging can be achieved without compromising shelf life or product stability. Our UV barrier solutions are available for lamination and surface print applications.
Heat seal coatings
High-performance coatings for all types of sealing requirements.
Water-based solutions
Either a stand-alone solution or incorporated with other functionalities (e.g. barrier performance), our water-based heat seal coatings are an effective, and recyclable, solution to replace sealable polyolefins (e.g. PE or PVdC) on fiber-based or aluminum substrates. Whether A/A or A/B sealability is required, our coatings can provide best-in-class performance in many different conditions, from low temperature to hot clamp, and from hot air to ultrasonic sealing.
Solvent-based solutions
Our solvent-based heat seal coatings enable sealing of polyolefin packaging structures as an alternative to coextruded or laminated sealing webs (e.g. polyolefins or PVdC). Thus, it can be applied to achieve significant reduction of material in packaging structures without compromising on sealing performance. Heat sealing lacquer solutions can be applied for A/A or A/B sealing.
Protection coatings
Protective coatings for optimum endurance and process efficiencies.
Water-based solutions
Like barrier coatings, protection coatings can be used to provide protection to filling goods such as scratch prevention for glass or precision-engineering metals, as well as the packaging material itself, e.g. creating heat resistance where further processing at high temperature is required such as heat sealing or in corrugated pre-print. Besides, protection coatings can also be useful for further handling in the supply chain by e.g. ensuring slip resistance of packaging when stacking on pallets. Our range of water-based protection coatings offers you everything from heat resistance and anti-scratch to anti-slip and anti-static solutions.
Solvent-based solutions
Switching from multi-film to mono-film packaging made of polyolefins brings new challenges to ensure technical robustness within packaging processes (e.g. sealing, stretching, wrinkling). With our solvent-based protection coatings, such as heat protection coatings, packaging structures can be strengthened and optimized to enable optimum endurance and process efficiencies.
Delamination and Deinking Primers
Effective primer solutions for high packaging performance and recyclability.
Solvent-based delamination and deinking primers enable full ink and coating removal of laminated and surface printed film structures to realize high-quality recyclates for circular waste streams. All primers are optimized for best process efficiency (high print speeds, overprintability) and packaging performance (high BSV, good substrate adhesion). Our delamination and deinking primers can be integrated into existing or cutting-edge packaging structures (inline or out of line) without restrictions in combination with state-of-the-art ink, film and adhesive technologies.
Water-based solutions
Whether you need to prepare the surface for perfect print results or enhanced barrier performance, our water-based primers are an effective solution on a range of materials from paper and board to aluminum foil. Siegwerk primers can be applied either in the printing process or as a specialist offline coating.
Solvent-based solutions
Solvent-based delamination and deinking primers enable full ink and coating removal of laminated and surface printed film structures to realize high-quality recyclates for circular waste streams. All primers are optimized for best process efficiency and packaging performance (high BSV, good substrate adhesion).
Effect coatings
Finishing solutions for eye-catching packaging designs.
Water-based and solvent-based solutions
Effect coatings can provide various sensory properties to packaging ranging from haptic (e.g. soft touch or high roughness) to visual effects (high matt or high gloss). Typically applied as an over-print varnish (OPV) in the printing process, our effect coatings can take your packaging solution to the next level by giving it the finishing touch needed to make it even more attractive to the end consumer.
Siegwerk’s Coating Guide for Paper and Board Solutions
Coating Guide
There are many important factors to consider for achieving the best printing coating performance on different materials. Paper and board, for example, can be particularly challenging materials for barrier coatings. Our team of coating application experts will be happy to help you with this challenge.
Please feel free to download our free Paper Coating Guide here.