Today, metal packaging seems to be two-piece cans, three-piece cans, and cylindrical barrels. Most of them are cylindrical, and their shape is not changed. However, packaging must be developed and new. It cannot always be changed. This does not meet the development of the times. The request. Therefore, metal packaging still needs to be developed. How does it develop? That is design innovation. In this regard, foreign developed countries have come before us.
British packaging expert Nike Aolan said: "When all manufacturers are making products of equal quality and price, design and innovation are the basis for metal packaging to survive and maintain its advantages." The bright metallic texture is inherent to the steel plate, and it has added a competitive advantage to it in the new century. Because metal products are "cool" in appearance, they can be seen everywhere in supermarkets around the world. However, no matter how compelling the product is, for packaging users, the main considerations are three major factors: cost, environment, and consumer demand.
Of these three factors, the most obvious is cost. Efforts to reduce material costs are important for all forms of packaging, and reducing the cost of metals is even more important because it accounts for the largest share of total costs. In general, canning technology has almost no limitation on the performance of packaging. Both in the past and in the present, can makers and steel plate suppliers are trying their best to produce higher quality products and process thinner and thinner metal packaging products. Constantly exploring better materials, better shaping the key parts of metal packaging, and getting better packaging performance.
Therefore, in order to achieve a better development of metal packaging, only design innovations can be made, because it can get more innovative products, so that it is refreshing. The can ends of necked beverage cans on the market are relatively small, which is equivalent to the reduction of materials and costs, and there is a clear relationship between the use of materials and forming technology. Now, canned foods all over the world have begun to emulate and narrow their margins.
The development of thinning materials has been gaining momentum in recent years and has very good prospects for development. Since the middle of the 1970s, Europe has introduced the concept of thinning, which has reduced the weight of steel plate beverage cans by 43%, and the rate of change has accelerated in the 1990s. Currently, China Thinning of metal packaging materials has also begun rapid development, and now in the domestic metal packaging industry, there has been a large number of adoption of O. The 200-liter steel drum produced from 6mm steel plate is a great improvement.
This development process can be traced from 1973 when using O. A metal can made of 38mm thick material has a can body weight of 40g. By 1993, the material thickness and can body weight of the cans were reduced to O. 28mm and 29g, by the middle of the 90's, O_22mm steel was used, and the weight was again reduced by 21%. At present, O. 16mm ~ O2mm thin steel plate cans are very common. With the continuous renewal of manufacturing technology and equipment, not only the thinning of materials has been achieved, but also the quality has been improved, and the production efficiency has also been continuously improved.
The representative of the innovative lightweight can body is the British company's award-winning product “flexible canâ€. The can is developed by the company in the Netherlands. The can body has a reinforced flange and the can body is thinner. Food cans are more flexible when cooked at high temperatures. The flexibility means that the pressure difference in the tank wall is smaller, so the can body can use a relatively thin (about O.18mm) material. This type of package is a true light tank that weighs 15% lighter than current metal cans. In recent European packaging competitions, the best prize for metal cans is such a metal can, which uses an easy-open lid and an ordinary thickness of O. A 17mm steel plate substrate, a packaging steel plate composed of a polymer coating on its surface. The manufacturer believes that it is also possible to use tear-off caps, and it is not necessary to vent the can while cooking cans. This square tank has 20% less space than a round package, and has an axial load carrying capacity of 2 kN, which is completely within the performance range of conventional metal cans. And the four sides of the can body can print very high quality patterns.
In the area of ​​spray cans, European light tinplate series two-piece cans emerged. This kind of pull-pull and stretch cans have the characteristics of thin cans and traditional spray cans and are seamless, which significantly reduces the proportion of metal used. In the packaging industry with increasing market demand, there are various designs of metal cans. How to successfully attract customers? Many industry insiders have considered that for a long time we have used the same coating materials or can lids. Adapted to today's market requirements, consumers are seeking newer stimuli, and we are constantly seeking __ its alternative products. The British company Carris introduced a new decorative steel plate to the market several years ago. This material consists of chromium oxide plated steel and several layers of polymer coating film on the surface.
It has been applied in Europe. This polymer spray material has several layers of composite films that can be metalized and printed with holographic labels. It has a protective layer that is conducive to printing. Since the entire process is carried out on a flat surface, this series of decorative steel panels is not suitable for stretching tanks, but it is ideal for decorative containers, easy-open covers, twist-off covers, crown caps, composite tank end caps and three-piece cans. s material.
The surface of the material is bright and glossy, once it was born. It really impressed the tinplate container market. Because it has a beautiful relief pattern on the surface, it makes the holographic trademark truly three-dimensional. The development of holographic marks on metal cans is a development trend. At present, holographic marks have been produced on aluminum beer cans in Australia and other countries. Experts believe that etching holographic marks directly on steel plates will become popular around the world in the near future. . The British company, Freilite, is the most famous supplier of polymer-coated steel and its products have been on the market for several years.
When the polymer film is glued to the surface of the steel plate. The material must be melted and cooled rapidly. This can create a very large bond between the steel plate and the PP or PPT to produce good barrier properties, strong corrosion resistance, and eye-catching packaging. The most widely used at present is a seasoning jar and a gel tank. There is also a new type of coating material that directly presses the resin onto the steel sheet and is currently being used for the production of food cans.
At home and abroad, beverage cans and food cans are in highly competitive areas. Including tin cans, aluminum cans, PET and glass containers, so to understand the packaging industry, everything can be found in this area. Nowadays, consumers are increasingly demanding packaging. They want to learn more about packaging. Therefore, printing technology is particularly important. The printing of tinplate in our country has remained at the level before the 1980s. In recent years, we have had a six-color printing system and fast-drying ink, which can print something quite outstanding.
We print metal cans and generally print cans only, but there has been a clear trend of development. It is also in the can end color printing. Now there is a necking can on the market, which uses eye-catching black easy opening cover. Make the design style a wider continuation. On the other hand, the development trend is that printed metal cans are not the only market for food and beverage cans, and they have also been fully expanded in the printing of other cans and cans. Such as decorative paint series metal cans, metal barrels for building materials, cans and so on. Now, what merchants consider the most is the packing container of such a commodity, even if consumers spend a little more money. But you can buy a package that makes the product unique on the shelf, for this.
The decoration of metal cans is undoubtedly the absolute fashion of today. __ There are some new technological achievements in metal cans. These results have greatly expanded the use and function of metal cans. For example, a recent ink. It can change color with changes in temperature. In the past, this type of ink was used only on labels on cans. Now it is possible to print the thermometer directly on metal cans. There is also a touch-sensitive ink that reacts with the underlying surface. And make the image show physical changes. l:IrAz!:l, it can be used to highlight changes in internal foods.
Providing convenience for consumers is a matter of commodity packaging, and the metal packaging industry is not far behind in this regard. Not long ago, the author saw a kind of canned luncheon meat in the supermarket. The packaging was a cylindrical three-piece can. It was beautifully printed. But it was placed in the special area and the price was twice as low as similar products. I didn’t understand it. I I think the quality is not so good. I bought two cans for my home study. It was discovered that the can could not be opened because it had neither an easy-open lid nor a tear-off of the can body. It was helpless. I used the oldest method, I used a kitchen knife to cut a circle along the side of the jar, the lid was cut off, but due to the cut edges, the whole piece of luncheon meat was stuck on the side and could not fall out until the whole meat was dug out. , It's not shape yet.
At this point I only knew why this kind of luncheon meat was not selling well. In Europe, the pet food cans have easy-open lids, and food cans that have no easy-open lids have disappeared. As technology has progressed, it has become very easy to open the lid, and precision tools and materials have developed greatly. Therefore, metal cans must be processed through high temperature and must have convenient opening and closing methods. We must know that this is a classic constraint because only consumers are the most discriminating groups.
It is said that today, when the material is thinned, the manufacturing tolerance of easy-opening caps is comparable to that of the launching rockets on the moon, and it can achieve high precision at an astonishing manufacturing speed. The development of metal cans lies in innovation. A creative design can not only reduce costs, but also increase the competitiveness of the goods, but also to meet the growing demand of the market and consumers.