Laminating Films for Technical Parts: Which Film to Choose?

A laminating film is a material bonded to other layers with an adhesive to build a laminate with properties no single layer has. For a technical part, the film is chosen according to the shape of the substrate, the environment, how long the part must stay in place and the look required. A stiff PET suits flat surfaces, while a conformable PE follows curves.

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Packaging lamination or technical lamination

The term covers two trades. In flexible packaging, lamination combines plastic films, aluminium or paper to make pouches and multilayer films, for sealing, barrier properties, UV protection or heat sealability. Film maker Granger Group lists food, pharmaceuticals, cosmetics and pet food among the markets for these films.

Our trade is the other one: technical lamination. We bond films, foams, papers or fabrics with an adhesive to make die-cut parts, technical labels and assembly components. If you need a barrier film for food packaging, a packaging film maker will serve you better.

Which laminating film to choose: what each material brings

For plastic films, Avery Dennison’s technical guide to film materials gives a simple scale: going from PET to PE, you gain conformability and compressibility and lose clarity and dimensional stability. The rest of the table relies on the manufacturer documents listed at the end of this article.

Our technical films and technical foams each have their own page.

When PVC needs a closer look

PVC gets its flexibility from plasticisers, liquids built into its formulation. Trade magazine Signs of the Times points out that monomeric plasticisers are more mobile and migrate more readily into neighbouring materials, including the adhesive. Polymeric plasticisers, with longer chains, resist migration better. For a part that has to last, the PVC and the adhesive are therefore chosen together.

The laminating adhesive is chosen with the film

A laminate holds through its adhesive as much as through its films. The first decision is how long the part must stay in place. Avery Dennison separates permanent adhesives, which cannot be removed without damaging the label or the substrate, from removable adhesives, which hold without edge lifting but come off without damage.

Next comes adhesive chemistry. The same Avery Dennison guide gives a few pointers:

• solvent acrylics offer exceptional water, heat and chemical resistance;
• rubber hotmelts give the best low-temperature performance and grip well on apolar, slightly rough or curved surfaces.

On hard-to-bond plastics such as polypropylene or polyethylene, the surface energy of the substrate matters as much as the adhesive. We cover this in our article on corona treatment. To bond two materials together, we often use a double-sided adhesive or a transfer adhesive.

Three examples of technical laminates

A protective film over a print

A technical label exposed to rubbing or cleaning agents gets a clear film over the print. The choice is between the clarity of PET and the flexibility of a more conformable film, depending on the shape of the part. We do this, for example, on some VOID labels.

A foam on a double-sided adhesive

For a gasket, a pad or an assembly part that has to cushion, the foam provides thickness and the double-sided adhesive provides fixing. The laminate is then die-cut to shape and delivered on rolls or sheets.

A repositionable graphic without adhesive

Yupo Tako® holds on smooth surfaces through micro-suction. Printed and die-cut, it gives a marking that can be removed and put back without leaving glue behind.

Questions to ask before choosing

1. The substrate. Flat or curved, smooth or rough, and what it is made of.
2. The environment. Temperature, humidity, UV, chemicals.
3. The duration. Permanent, removable or repositionable.
4. The look. Clarity, colour, print.
5. The function. Bond, protect, cushion, insulate, inform.
6. The application. Manual or automatic: for robotic placement, the laminate also has to stay stiff in the right place.
7. The volume. Quantity and order frequency.

Our laminating page describes the process and how we combine these materials.

Frequently asked questions