Adds toughness and durability to print along with an attractive finish in high gloss or smooth matt or silk.
Conventional Lamination
Nearly all major trade film laminators use a water-based adhesive which they apply to the film before laminating the film to the paper or board. The adhesive is the critical ingredient in lamination, it is essential l to get the strongest possible bond, especially with the increasing use by printers of machine varnishes and coatings.
We only use the best adhesive on the market, Polytoll 7GK092, originally formulated by a local industrial chemist, Steve Rohatynskyj, at Crown Paints here in Darwen, and still manufactured in Lancashire.
The vast majority of film laminating in the UK uses OPP (Oriented Polypropylene) film because it provides an ideal combination of aesthetic qualities, toughness, and good value when compared with other films such as cellulose acetate and polyester. Sadly the last UK producer of lamination-grade OPP film closed down some years ago. Our standard films are OPP in Gloss, Matt and Silk finishes.
OPP Gloss
Provides an attractive and economical coating ideal for catalogue covers etc. The high gloss level can really enhance the brightness of the colours, giving a very vibrant look to your print.
OPP Matt
Lovely, smooth finish, which looks and feels high quality. All matt finishes have the advantage that the reduced reflection makes reading easier. However, it can also distort some colours, often making them seem a slightly more ‘dirty’ colour than when printed. Matt films can also be very prone to scuffing, and great care should be taken when handling them. Matt lamination looks its best as an excellent contrast background for Spot UV Varnishing of highlights of the printed page.
OPP Silk
Attractive satin finish which combines the feel of matt film with the clarity of gloss film. Like matt film it can be prone to scuffing.
Specialist Films
There are many films available, and each has specific qualities, as listed below, but all of these films are much more expensive than OPP which makes them really only suitable for specialist applications. Most of these films are not available as thermal films and the range of sizes is limited please check before ordering.
OPP Biodegradable
Oxobiodegradable OPP film available in gloss or matt, cheaper than Cellulose Acetate
Polyester
Better known as encapsulating film, but can be used for laminating. Excellent tear, heat, and chemical resistance.
Soft-Touch
This is a new development, very very matt and with a velvety feel.
Linen
Textured OPP film, also available in other finishes, notably sandgrain and leather. Popular for case-bound book covers.
Anti-Scuff Matt
Does exactly what it says on the tin!
Cellulose Acetate
Biodegradable (made from wood pulp!), good scuff resistance, easily foilable and glueable, available in gloss, matt, silk and semitone (textured).
Thermal Lamination
Whilst our standard lamination film is applied using liquid adhesive, we can also supply thermal or dry lamination if required. In this system the lamination film has been pre-coated with a dry EVA (Ethylene Vinyl Acetate) hot-melt adhesive. Many smaller laminators use this method because it is very simple and the machinery is cheaper. However, the limitations of the pre-coated adhesive system means that the bond strength is often weaker than can be achieved with conventional wet lamination, moreover the high temperatures can cause problems with lighter stocks and with some inks.
However, thermal lamination does have some specific advantages, the main one being that we can confidently laminate inks containing fanal pigments which are not colour stable. These inks (e.g. Reflex Blue, Rhodamine Red, Pantone Purple, etc) in the right conditions of ambient heat and humidity can leach out or bleach away when in contact with other chemicals which are not pH-neutral, such as the amines used in all UV varnishes and cross-linking laminating adhesives. Unfortunately, this instability is at its worst when the fanal pigment is only a small part of the ink mix, so we cannot usually identify them unless we are told by the printer. Even more unfortunately, the discoloration does not occur straight away, if it did our operators would spot it, it only occurs if the heat and humidity are at the right level for the chemical reaction to commence (this is why usually it does not happen at all). Thermal lamination films overcome this problem because they are very close to pH-neutral and are only active for the couple of seconds when they are above the re-activation temperature, moreover there is no chemical cross-linking unlike the liquid adhesives used by most trade laminators. You should always advise us if your inks contain these pigments so that we can ensure we use the thermal lamination system.
Tips to Get the Best Laminated Job
It is our job to enhance the print our customers send us, and we always put our best efforts into achieving that end. However, sometimes we know that a job could have been just a bit better if only the customer had supplied it to us a little differently. So here are our top tips for getting the best job possible:-
Use gloss coated papers:
You will get a higher gloss level on Gloss Lamination, and less silvering on Matt Lamination. So you will actually get a deeper matt finish using a gloss paper
Use less spray powder:
You wouldn’t throw dust on a door before painting it, would you? If the design of a job means you know you are going to have to spray heavily, allow time to run the job back through the press to remove the excess powder.
Give us enough bleed:
We need 8mm grip (assuming 3mm of bleed and 5mm of unprinted paper) and 5mm at the other edges. As the initial bond-strength is much better on unprinted or lightly-printed surfaces, the bleed area should be greater if the printed bleed is more than 3mm. If in doubt, please call us. N.B. Please remember that we need 12mm grip for UV Varnishing.
Take care with coatings:
We like the fact that machine seals and varnishes make printwork easier to handle without marking, however some do contain high levels of wax or silicone which make it very difficult to get a good bond. Speak to your coatings supplier if a coating is designed as a topcoat or finish coat, it should really not be used when a further coating is required, whether laminate or UV varnish. To take a further coating effectively, the surface tension of the print you supply to us should be at least 38 dynes/sq. cm.
Matt lamination film:
Deflects light in strange ways, which can cause some colours to change markedly and can also reduce clarity and definition, which can be noticeable for instance on fine-point reversals etc.
Digital Print:
Not all digital toners readily accept laminating adhesives, and this is especially true of solid colours. Whilst we have a number of products and techniques to enable us achieve an acceptable bond (for which we charge a premium), we still occasionally find jobs which defeat us. The good news is that the toners do get better as time goes on, but for security we would always advise you to print litho.
Check first:
We are always happy to run test sheets to help you make early decisions and avoid expensive mistakes.
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