Laser-marking of monolayer dairy PET packaging
Holland Colours has introduced a new generation of their light barrier technology for UHT milk packaging, Holcomer III. It is said to include enhanced light-barrier and laser-marking benefits such as 100% UV blocking and up to 99.9% visible-light blocking in a monolayer PET bottle but with lower production and laser-marking costs.
Laser-marked letters and numbers are clearer and easier to read than printed ones, and unlike those cannot smudge or be accidentally wiped off. Holcomer III is claimed to overcome the traditional challenge posed by laser-marking monolayer PET milk bottles. The core of the issue is that organic polymers like PET show only limited sensitivity to IR lasers used in laser marking, so laser additives have to be added for the technique to work. However, these additives can cause a slight influence on the colour (greyish), which is exactly what you do not want in pure, dairy applications. But using Holcomer III, producers can maintain the snow-white dairy appearance of the bottle without compromising the legibility of the laser marking.
