Ciba launches improved labelling solutions
solutions for the label industry, designed to improve both adhesion
and printing quality.
The first is a durable surface modification technology for plastics, Ciba Prime IT, which is designed to improve adhesion, printing and coating. The second, Ciba Colibri QuickMatch Pro, is an easy-to-use, accurate electronic colour matching system for printing inks.
"Prime IT really makes it stick," said Hermann Angerer, global head of Ciba Specialty Chemicals' coating effects segment. "Conventional treatments to improve wettability and therefore adhesion are not stable and surface modification is uneven, resulting in unsatisfactory adhesion.
"Prime IT durably modifies the physical properties of the plastic surface, allowing chemical bonding. This new technology ensures improved adhesion on a wide variety of plastic substrates, including OPP, PVC, PET, PE and PA."
Prime IT technology features in-line systems that allow treating and printing on the same machine for cost-effective and efficient processing. The products can be applied on a standard engraved flexo or gravure roll.
Other suitable application methods include spraying. Following carrier removal, the substrate can be further processed without any additional surface treatment - labels, for example, can be applied immediately - or it can be stored.
Ciba Colibri QuickMatch Pro on the other hand is a new colour-matching solution for efficient and accurate recipe formulation of printing inks.
"Colibri QuickMatch Pro allows matching of conventional as well as metallic colours and shades for inks to be printed on metallic surfaces," said Hermann Angerer. "Colibri QuickMatch systems enable our customers to move into new application areas and to add value in existing ones."
Ciba claims that the product is tailored to industry needs, and is exceptionally easy to use. The system is suitable for all types of printing, including flexo, screen, UV and offset. It is also compatible with virtually all spectrophotometers and can match metallic and opalescent colours without the use of a multi-angle spectrophotometer.
The company will be displaying both innovations at LabelExpo Americas 2004 from 13 to 16 September.
Ciba Specialty Chemicals is active in more than 120 countries around the world. In 2003 the company generated sales of 6.6 billion Swiss francs (€4.3 bn) and invested 281 million in R&D.
