High-contrast additive-free laser marking on closures, caps and crowns is now possible.
Unique combination of laser technologies makes laser marking on closures, caps and crowns efficient and effective.
For years laser technologies have been used in beverage packaging industry to solve marking goals. Ink marking is not flexible enough and has a lot of drawbacks that creates a great opportunity to use lasers instead. However, while providing basic laser marking advantages like image quality and absence of ink old-fashioned YAG lasers are not able to fulfill high industry standards. YAG lasers require frequent maintenance including lamp and crystal changes that puts the use of the technology at a question. A better solution and alternative should have been researched and developed to advance the technology.
Fiber lasers successfully took over the leading position in the field and made possible almost maintenance-free work for laser systems. NII Laser Technology integrated high-power fiber laser sources specifically developed for laser marking on beverage closures, caps and lids with astonishing 50 000 hours of working hours. Dynamic Laser Marker (DLM) series of equipment was specially developed for beverage industry to fulfil laser marking needs on the inside and outside surface of closures, caps and crowns. “We deeply researched the issue and worked closely with customers to understand real needs and goals,” said Sergiy Gulak NII Laser Technology Chief Engineer. DLM-BC Pro system is a great solution on the market that is selected by a number of closure manufacturers in Europe. Nevertheless the question of using laser additive (master batch) for many closures colors was still opened and needed further research.
“With all our experience in the field of laser technologies we knew that we could achieve high contrast marking without a need to use any laser additive in closures production,” said Illia Balashov NII Laser Technology VP of Product. Eventually a solution was found and adopted from other field. UV lasers used in DLM-BC Pro-N system made it the first system ever to allow laser marking on plastic closures and caps without any need to use laser additive. This made a huge difference and technology was approved by many well-known beverage brands. However, some colors of closures were still marked at higher speeds with fiber laser.
An evolutionary solution was offered. DLM-BC Pro-D is the first system to combine two laser technologies and enable additive-free laser marking on most closures colors at maximum speed. Laboratory tests later proved that the technology is safe to use with food and beverage products. NII Laser Technology delivered a unique solution to the market and created ultimate flexibility and efficiency for closures, caps and crowns manufacturers.
About NII Laser Technology PJSC
NII Laser Technology PJSC is holding leading positions in designing and manufacturing industrial laser systems for different applications. Solutions are offered for beverage, printing, automotive, machinery, cable industries amongst others. Company was founded by members of Kharkiv National University from quantum radiophysics department, who researched, developed and designed laser systems. Today NII Laser Technology PJSC group of companies has 140 people of staff.
Find out more at www.niilt.com .