Lamination Press Guide

What is the lamination press?

The lamination press is the technique to strengthen a sheet material structurally by means of bonding multiple layers of materials together. By bonding materials together, the performance of the product can be better. The other primary goal to apply the lamination press is to better the overall presentation of it. In other words, the lamination press is used for cosmetic or performance purpose.

The common lamination press involves coating a film, textile, plastic, metal, wood or other substrates to the surface of a material so that it can be more rigid or with desired patterns to be used. The most common lamination press machine we can see in our daily life is in the teacher’s office where the teacher laminates cards and papers to make them stronger. Decorations may be pressed into the card as a gift or reward to the students as well.

As for the industrial application of lamination press, the approach is conducted to create stronger building materials for construction. The panels or other types of building materials that are strengthened by lamination press are able to withstand larger workload and are less likely to be easily damaged by the natural forces. Lamination press is in fact quite essential for the construction industry in the modern world.

The lamination press can be divided into several types based on the parameters that influence the process directly. A lamination press can be influenced by the temperature, pressure, time, humidity and moisture, etc. In order to achieve different purposes, the parameters will be adjusted. For example, there are hot lamination press and cold lamination press. The way they bond the materials is different from each other and the results are different as well.

Hot laminating

Hot laminating is often referred to as the thermal laminating. It is one of the most common lamination press which applies thermally activated glue on the laminating rolls or pouches in coating. When the material is heated, the thermally activated glue melts and spread on the surface of the material to be coated. The heat and the pressure exerted by the laminating rolls will coat the film onto the material. The hot laminating is the lamination press that is used mostly for laminating photos, signs, posters, or business cards, etc. The laminators used in the office are a type of hot laminating machine.

Cold laminating

The cold laminating is also known as the pressure laminating. It is a lamination press technique that mainly applies the pressure to bond materials together. The film has a tacky adhesive which sticks to the paper or the material when pressure is exerted on the film. The tacky adhesive that laminated to one side of the paper allows the paper to stick on other surfaces. The cold laminating is used to make stickers or other art designs. Besides making stickers, the cold laminating is used when the material is sensitive to temperature.

As for the laminators for business use, there are hot laminators and cold laminators on the market. However, despite the fact that the hot laminators are designed for hot laminating, there is usually the option to turn off the heat and use the machine as a cold laminator. Such machine is popular among the users since it is more versatile in applications.

Roll laminating

The roll laminating technique can be found in many business-use lamination machines. It is a console-style laminating machine which is ideal of the bulky production in large companies such as a printing house or a publish house. In these places, a lot of materials are to be coated and the roll lamination machines are the perfect choice for such settings. The roll lamination machine rolls the plastic film on the front and back of the materials rapidly and is able to give an effective result. The roll lamination machines are versatile because the products can later be cut into shapes or sizes. The roll laminating process usually involves heating to coat the materials.

Pouch laminating

The pouch laminating machines use designated pouches to seal materials between two sheets. When a sheet is placed into a pouch laminating machine, the sheet will be rolled to seal the two sides together. A pouch laminating machine is normally smaller than a roll laminating machine. As a result, the pouch laminating machines are easily found on a desk in an office or a shop. They can be put away and stored when not used. The pouch laminating can go with either heat laminating or cold laminating. The key differences between a roll laminator and a pouch laminator is that the pouch laminator can only process one sheet at a time and the size and shape of the sheet to be coated must fit into the pouch and therefore it is less versatile.

Other application of lamination press

Lamination press can be used in our daily life to strengthen the documents and it can be used industrially to enhance the rigidness of building materials. It can be used to bond wood panel together or plastic materials that are used in interior designs. Yet, there are still other uses of lamination press. For example, the lamination press can be used in sports. Since the lamination press involves materials such as textile or fabrics, the method is used for athletic apparel such as footwear. The applications of lamination press can actually be found in many places in our life.

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