This
segment of the industry has the broadest types and
largest numbers of variations in production strategies
of any of the market segments. Recycle fiber, mechanical
fiber, bleached woodfree, and unbleached woodfree are
all utilized. The grades produced include corrugated,
folding boxboard, recycled board, linerboard, wrappers,
beverage carrier and Bristols to name just a few. The
various grades include coated and uncoated types. The
print processes used include sheet fed offset, heat
set offset, rotogravure and flexography. Flexographic
printing is considered to be the fastest growing method
used. The degree of print requirement depends
upon the application itself. Corrugated boxes fro mass
shipment will not require the quality that a perfume
or hair coloring package sitting on the shelf hoping
to catch the consumer’s eye might require. |
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Most linerboard grades do not use
fillers today, but as global pressures on the fiber
supply and environmental concerns ratchet up these
producers may find themselves using fillers like
Linerfil more and more. The higher brightness grades
in N. America and most of the grades produced in
Europe utilize calcium carbonate pigments like
Carbital 90/95 and Carbilux. In N. America though
the dominant pigment used is kaolin. This is because
most board mills are acid wet ends. There are a
variety kaolin pigments used such as Contour Xtreme,
Astra-Plate, Astra-Plus, KCS, Premier and Astrasheen. The
way they are used depends upon the grade and type
of coating being applied. The finer pigments are
usually used in top coat applications while the coarser
and platier ones are used in base coating.
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An area of concern to most packaging
producers is the gluability of the surface. It
is always desired that failure occur within the
fiber layer and this is most critical in coated
board grades. Imerys has the necessary experience
to help their customers achieve this important
attribute in their grades.
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