New Ionomer Decorative Effects Using Hot Stamping

A collaborative R&D effort between DuPont Performance Polymers, Wilmington, Del. and the Kurz Group (U.S. office in Charlotte, N.C.), a renowned innovator in hot stamping and cold transfer technology, has led to the “beautifying” of products made of the former’s Surlyn ionomer (well-recognized by the cosmetic packaging arena for its broad freedom of design) with a golden or metallized effect. It took several months of R&D to meet this technological challenge, according to Maria Carcole, EMEA (Europe, Middle East & Africa) marketing leader perfumes & materials developments and decorative effects for Surlyn. “In this project, hot stamping allowed us to obtain a colored or metallic high-gloss decoration, which gives the cap a truly luxurious feel with outstanding tactile and surface qualities.”

The twofold challenge in the development of a foil was to obtain good adhesion to Surlyn film at low temperatures, while retaining the high gloss of the material, according to Stephane Royere, head of business area industrial products at Kurz. The new foil offers very high bond strength and successfully passed all abrasion-resistance tests. Moreover, the team developed a second version of the foil, ensuring an identical level of brilliance between the hot-stamped and un-stamped areas. According to Royere, the experience obtained is already being applied to new projects using metallized or pigmented marking films.