SPE Decorating & Assembly Division Programming at ANTEC
Plastics Decorating
SPEs Decorating & Assembly Division will host a half-day of programming Thursday, May 10, at ANTEC, held in conjunction with NPE2018 in Orlando, Florida. ANTECs joint meeting with NPE brings together the largest gathering of plastics engineers and professionals in North America.
Paper topics will include robotic automation for pad printing, laser marking vs. digital inkjet, electron beam curing and laser welding, among others. Full event details are available at www.4spe.org.
A programming schedule for SPEs Decorating & Assembly Division sessions is as follows.
Digital Printing Technologies for Plastics Focus on Color Inkjet and Laser Marking
Scott Sabreen, The Sabreen Group
This presentation will examine both digital decorating processes laser marking and digital inkjet and look at the advantages and disadvantages of each. The discussion will include suggestions on which process is best for particular plastics decorating applications.
Robotic Use in Pad Printing
Micah Swett, Diversified Printing Techniques
Factory automation is quickly becoming more common place in todays manufacturing sector. With labor shortages and rising wages, factories want to automate pad printing to replace workers. Unfortunately, most companies are not doing this because of technical and commercial reasons. Pad printing machines have evolved into complex pieces of equipment, many with precision movements with guide rails and servo motors. However, over 95 percent of pad printing machines are loaded by an operator.
Digital Inkjet for Direct to Object Printing
Ben Adner, InkCups
This presentation will discuss digital inkjet technology and how it is being used for a variety of direct to object printing. It will include information on using the right type of inkjet printer (flatbed, conveyorized or cylinder printer). It also will outline trends in the industry and how this type of technology is projected to grow.
Applications for Low Energy Ebeam Curing Technology in Consumer Product Flexible Packaging Applications
Anthony Carignano, eBeam Technologies
Ultraviolet (UV) and low energy electron beam (ebeam) curing technologies often are grouped together. Both technologies are used to initiate the rapid polymerization of the monomers and oligomers contained in photopolymer coatings, inks and adhesives in a process referred to as “radiation curing” or “energy curing.” This presentation will discuss the fundamental differences between UV and ebeam curing technologies and include a discussion regarding the typical differences in formulations and curing equipment configurations commonly used for UV vs. ebeam applications.
Carbon Black Selection for Successful Through Transmission Laser Welding and Joining
Avraham Benatar, The Ohio State University, and Scott Sabreen, The Sabreen Group
Laser welding to join thermoplastics is used in a wide range of applications because it is a non-contact heating method with short cycle times and lower cost. For surface heating and through transmission heating, carbon black is the most frequently used colorant.
Effects of Surface Treatment on Hard to Bond Plastics
Matthew Miner, Henkel
This presentation will provide background information on difficult to bond materials, review techniques for quantifying the surface energy of a plastic, review the latest solutions for surface modification and introduce innovative adhesive solutions to meet the challenges of bonding these specific substrates.
