Choose the right lamination films for your business

Lamination is used for protecting high-quality graphic prints. Choosing a right lamination film is one of the toughest decisions that most businesses have to make. It’s a complex process because you cannot always make a decision based on the price. There are a few other things that you need to take into consideration before choosing the right kind of lamination film. Let’s quickly take a look at following pointers.

Type of lamination film to suit your business requirement

There are two broad categories of the lamination films. They are as follows.

1. Thermal (hot) Films – The hot films have a low-melt point. Here the paper products are laminated using pressure and heat. There are two surface finishes available in the thermal film category. They are Biaxially Oriented Polypropylene (BOPP) and Polyethylene terephthalate (PET) based thermal films. Both Pet and BOPP thermal lamination film is used to laminate book covers, magazines, diaries and so on. However, based on the requirements of your business you can choose from the various types of PET and BOPP laminating films.

2. Wet Lamination Film – This type is usually used to laminate two substrates where one of them is porous. Like in the thermal films, wet laminating films are also available in BOPP and PET-Based Wet. BOPP cold films are used for lamination on printed, unprinted and paper boards as well as for carton lamination. Generally, the wet lamination is used in laminating cartons of cosmetics, wine and so on.

Durability
Take into consideration the environment where the object or graphics that is to laminated will be kept. You need to understand that the film is directly related to the environmental conditions such as exposure to light, moisture, temperature and so on. There are different qualities of films available in the market. Therefore, keep the environment factor in mind while choosing the film.

Ease of lamination
The thickness of the film plays a vital role in the rigidity/conformability ratio. As the thickness of the film increases the more rigid it is. Thick film is used to laminate graphics that need to lay flat and remain like that. For curved or uneven substrates, you should consider using thin films.

Quality of the laminating films
Choose high-quality films from a reputed brand. Though it may seem cost-effective to buy low-priced laminating films initially, in the long run, it could prove to be costly. The reason is these films can deteriorate quickly and cause damage to the objects that they were supposed to preserve and protect.

Adhesive
This again plays a vital role in enhancing the aesthetics of the lamination. Therefore, it is highly recommended that you choose the right kind as well as top quality adhesives that is required for your lamination films.

There is a saying “You get what you pay for.” Therefore, choose your laminating films wisely and as per your requirement. Also, go for quality and reputed products as the poorly made films can damage the substrates that they are supposed to protect.