Rofin has introduced its StarPerfo Advanced film perforation system, making use of the company's web movement compensation system (WMC) to achieve complete compensation of web movement during laser processing of packaging materials, producing the precise and repeatable perforated holes required to achieve extended shelf life.
The growth in markets such as health foods and snacks, has driven the requirement for not only attractive presentation, but extended shelf life for organic fruit, vegetables, nuts, dried fruit and cereals. An additional requirement has also arisen for multi-chamber trays used for multi-component snacks. For these products, each chamber requires perforating differently, to optimise the storage life of the ingredients within that particular chamber.
When a laser pulse hits fast moving material, the resultant quality of the hole may not be as required. If pulse duration and web speed exceed certain values, the holes can become visibly oval. In many cases, material that has been produced at high speeds may not be of the accuracy required to allow the specified air exchange and is therefore deemed unusable. Historically, to overcome this issue the web speed is often reduced resulting in higher production costs.
The introduction of Rofin's WMC technology allows precise perforation on many materials, including some that previously could not have been processed at profitable rates, such as thick films (>100µm) or films comprising of sophisticated material combinations. Rofin's WMC system dramatically cuts material waste, and in some cases quadruples previously achievable web speeds. This new Rofin solution operates across a comprehensive speed range, from start up to greater than 500m per minute.