Sun Chemical has reinforced its commitment to the graphic arts and packaging markets by opening a new coatings lab in its Carlstadt, New Jersey research and development facility. The lab is the fourth of its kind worldwide, joining similar laboratories located in the United Kingdom and DIC R&D centers in Japan.
“The new Carlstadt coatings lab represents a major investment in our coatings business,” said Russell Schwartz, chief technology officer, Sun Chemical. “This enhanced capability will help us expand our product range offerings into an evolving packaging market that includes laminating adhesives, glass decoration and printed electronics.”
The 11,000-square-foot facility includes equipment and analytical support for studying migration, adhesion, permeability and other performance-related coating phenomena. SEM microscopy, atomic force microscopy, IR surface mapping, surface energy measurements and many other techniques are used to advance the fundamental understanding of key coatings performance attributes. Plus, a variety of equipment has been added to the new lab, including:
- gas transmission rate analyzers,
- glass bottle testing instrumentation and
- coatings spraying equipment to develop new and improved water, solvent and energy curable primers, inks and coatings.
A lab laminator will be added in 2017 to help study the interaction between ink, substrate, primers, overprint varnishes and laminating adhesives.
