By Andy Behr, technology mgr.-Panasonic Electronic Materials Division A primary factor limiting the deployment of printed electronics is a dearth of application-specific substrates. Conventional thermoplastic polymer films, like TPU and PET, typically employed for printed electronics, exhibit poor temperature resistance and relatively high hysteresis, creating significant … [Read more...] about Thermoset film offers soft, high-temperature-resistant stretchability for printed electronics: Part 2
2023 Quarter 1
Facilitated Volmer-Weber nucleation of sputtered metal films on flexible substrates for use in RF-transparent applications
By Robert Malay, Ph,D., technical mgr., VDI LLC With more and more devices being able to communicate to the larger environment, there is a desire for aesthetically pleasing films with a metallized look that do not block or attenuate signal from commonly used communications frequencies. This work investigates the use of various metal coatings using specific nucleation … [Read more...] about Facilitated Volmer-Weber nucleation of sputtered metal films on flexible substrates for use in RF-transparent applications
Working toward recovering the aluminum and recycling the polymer or paper substrate
By Charles A. Bishop, Ph.D., CEng., C.A.Bishop Consulting, Ltd. Aluminum has been vacuum-deposited onto polymer films for more than 70 years. But the process has not radically changed since its introduction, and current market trends point out the difficulty metallized films have in energy consumption and end-product packaging recycling. This article covers the beneficial … [Read more...] about Working toward recovering the aluminum and recycling the polymer or paper substrate
Charting a course for UV: A guide to optimizing curing solutions on the print-production floor
Via Bill Bonallo, president/CEO; and Errol Moebius, vp, IST America Corp. Introduction Dry. Cure. Bond. Adhere. Over the past several decades, ultraviolet (UV) printing, often referred to as energy-curable, has gone from a nascent, specialized, add-on press “drying” option to the prolific print solution across commercial and packaging segments that it is today. Yet as the … [Read more...] about Charting a course for UV: A guide to optimizing curing solutions on the print-production floor
High-performance AlOx thin films for next-generation sustainable flexible packaging: Part 1
By N.A. Morrison, chief technologist; M. Campo, technical staff member; T. Crouch, head of packaging; R. Verghese, R&D mgr.-Flexible Products Group, Applied Materials Web Coating GmbH; and S. Straach, group mgr., Fraunhofer FEP AlOx has long been touted as a suitable transparent layer for packaging applications and indeed has found use in a range of retort applications … [Read more...] about High-performance AlOx thin films for next-generation sustainable flexible packaging: Part 1