While chatting with a colleague the other day we got to talking about a material that I haven't heard a lot about recently - glassine. Glassine has long been used in a wide variety of ways including the packaging food. The thin paper based material provides an air, grease & water resistant layer, which, as you can imagine can be very useful in food packaging.

Our conversation about glassine got started as one of our customers who is using glassine currently told us that they were down to one supplier for the material. Needless to say they got a little nervous when they were down to one supplier for a key component in their product. Enercon's induction cap sealers provide a nice option in replacing glassine. The heat induction seal with its foil layer and laminations not only provides similar benefits, but also provides you with a much cleaner application process along with virtually zero transmission of air (or water) through the foil seal.

Converting from glassine to induction seals will undoubtedly change your packaging process a bit, but my guess is it will actually make it a bit easier - chances are your operators will thank you for the change! Drop me a note if you have an application that you'd like us to take a look at in replacing glassine with an induction seal; we're always happy to run free sample tests for you.

Enercon has long provide both induction cap sealing systems as well as surface treating equipment. For many years the customer bases were nearly mutually exclusive. Every once in a while you'd see a customer with a need to solve an adhesion problem.

Today, I'm seeing more and more companies who are not only looking to solve a sealing challenge, but are also looking for a way to improve adhesion on their packaging. Fortunately, whether its increasing label adhesion, enhancing glue effectiveness on cartons, or simply sealing a bottle, Enercon is able to provide a solution!

To help people learn a bit more about this technology we recently launched a new website dedicated to educating people about plasma treating. The site provides everything from basic information about processes and applications to in depth technical papers. Could be worth checking out if you need to solve an adhesion problem in your business. Check it out at www.plasmatreating.com

The induction cap sealing process relies on 3 components - pressure, heat and time. Today, I'd like to share a little bit on the first of these three, pressure. Induction sealing is a non-contact process, therefore it requires a source of pressure on the foil inner seal in order to successfully seal your product. This pressure is created by applying application torque on the closure. When properly torqued onto the container, the closure exerts pressure on the foil liner resulting in intimate contact between the foil seal and your container. Add a little heat for a given amount of time and you have a hermetically sealed package.

What's the right amount of torque? Now that's the magic question! A rule of thumb we often use is 1/2 the diameter of the closure in inch-pounds. For example, a 38mm closure should receive approximately 19 inch-pounds of application torque. While this is a good rule of thumb, there is usually a larger range. Three resources you can use to find your range:

1. Cap Supplier - your best source for application torque information is your cap supplier; they know their products better than anyone and will be able to provide you with an exact range for your closure
2. Enercon's cap ruler - allows you not only to measure cap/bottle diameters easily, but also list suggested application torque ranges (request your free cap ruler today)
3. Enercon's web site - we have a page dedicated to suggested cap application torque

Application torque is one of those vital components to the induction sealing process. Too little (or too much) torque and you'll end up with unsealed products. Applying inconsistent application torque will result in inconsistent results. If you can nail down the proper application torque on your package, you'll be well on your way to properly sealed packages every time!

Last week I wrote a bit about our line speed calculator which many people find helpful. Another tool that we offer free of charge and ship with every system is our handy gap gauge used in setting up your sealer.

One of the key variables in the setup of your induction sealing system is the gap between the top of the closure and the bottom of the sealing head. While the specific gap can vary from application to application, the important piece is that the gap you use for each product is consistent every time you run the product. The strongest part of the field that we are creating is closest to the sealing head. Because of this many times we'll recommend running a 1/8" gap to take advantage of the most performance possible.

However, as we all know bigger, better, faster isn't always the best route. In some cases it makes sense to dig in a bit deeper into your application and the tolerances involved with your containers and closures. Depending on these tolerances we may want to look at increasing the gap to find the operating window that fits your application best.

Utilizing our gap gauge makes this consistent setup a breeze. Simply place a bottle on each end of the sealer. Set the gap gauge(s) on top of the capped containers. Lower the sealing head until it just touches the gap gauge(s). After that you're off to the races. Turn your conveyor on, find your operating window and finally start running production. It's a process that usually only takes a few minutes to complete.

If you'd like us to send you a free gap gauge, fill out this form and we'll get one off to you.