601 Liberty Drive Bloomington, IN 47403
601 Liberty Drive Bloomington, IN 47403
MIRWEC Coating MICROGRAVURE™
What is MICROGRAVURE™?
A smaller diameter gravure roll engraved with patterns or cells to provide a specific coating volume. It is used in a reverse kiss coating method in which the roll is partially submerged in a pan of solution. The roll rotates in the opposite direction of the web, and the cells pick up the coating solution. The flexible doctor blade lightly smoothes off the excess and the precisely measured solution in the cells is then transferred to the web.
What Can MICROGRAVURE™ Do?
- Offers exceptional uniformity: ±1-2% tolerance
- Coats 0.5 to 80 microns wet, as thin as 5 nanometers dry
- Coats low viscosity solutions (0-1000 cP), both aqueous and solvent based
- Coats on thin substrates such as PET, PC, PP, aluminum, copper, stainless steel, paper and fabric
- PET: as thin as 3um
- Aluminum foil: as thin as 6um
- PC: as thick as 750um
- Suitable for evenly coating suspensions with rigid particles
Why Is MICROGRAVURE™ Better Than Regular Gravure?
- The smaller diameter provides a much smaller contact area (a), which allows for an exceptionally stable bead of solution that is critical for thin, uniform and glossy coatings
- The larger web-to-roller distance (b) minimizes streaks and offers cleaner lines
- No backing roll – means no creasing, smaller contact area, prevents spillover to the other side
- Can coat low viscosity solutions
- Lightweight cylinder means faster & easier changeover
- Reverse coating creates shearing which results in a smoother surface
Regular Gravure
- Large contact area (a) and small web-to-roller (b) distance
- Unstable bead of solution
- Unstable coating
MICROGRAVURE™
- Small contact area (a) and larger web-to-roller distance (b)
- Very stable bead of solution
- Exceptionally stable, glossy and uniform coating