Linerless label and method for preparing a label

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11624005-B2
Application number	US-201415115402-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Oct 8, 2014
Priority date	Feb 10, 2014
Publication date	Apr 11, 2023
Grant date	Apr 11, 2023

Abstract

A printed linerless face laminate includes a release layer including a release agent, a second layer including a thermoplastic polymer, a second adhesive layer, a first layer including a thermoplastic polymer or fiber-based material, and a first adhesive layer including a pressure sensitive adhesive, wherein the print is on one or more printable surface(s) between the first layer and the second layer. A method for producing the printed linerless face laminate is also described.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A wash-off removable printed linerless face laminate in the form of a continuous label web having a plurality of individual labels wound into a roll for dispensing with an automatic label dispensing machine configured to separate the individual labels from the label web and feed the labels onto a surface of a product to be labelled, the wash-off removable printed linerless face laminate comprising the following layers in the following order:
a release layer comprising a release agent,
a second layer comprising a thermoplastic polymer,
a second adhesive layer,
a first layer comprising a thermoplastic polymer or fiber-based material, and
a first adhesive layer comprising a pressure sensitive adhesive capable of forming a bond when pressure is applied at room temperature, wherein the pressure sensitive adhesive is an acrylic-based adhesive selected from emulsion and water-based pressure sensitive adhesives exhibit a reduction in adhesive force at 65° C. and wherein the individual labels are removable from the plastic bottle at washing conditions comprising a temperature of 65-75° C. and exposure to an aqueous alkaline solution;
wherein the print is on one or more printable surface(s) between the first layer and the second layer; and
wherein the first layer and/or the second layer comprises a biaxially oriented film and the other of the first layer or the second layer comprises a non-annealed monoaxially oriented film,
wherein the second adhesive layer comprises an adhesive selected from the group consisting of a polyurethane adhesive and a UV curable acrylic adhesive, wherein adhesion of the second adhesive does not substantially decrease at the washing conditions so that the first layer and the second layer attached with the second adhesive will not be separated during washing, and
wherein the plurality of individual labels are formed by die-cutting through each layer to provide the continuous label web having no matrix material around the individual labels, wherein the individual labels are directly attached to each other by an uncut bridge between the individual labels.

2. The printed face laminate of claim 1 , wherein the first layer comprises a polymer selected from the group consisting of polyethylene, polypropylene, polyethylene terephthalate, polylactic acid, polystyrene, polyvinyl chloride, polyester, cyclic olefin (co)polymer and copolymers and derivatives thereof.

3. The printed face laminate of claim 1 , wherein the first layer comprises paper.

4. The printed face laminate of claim 1 , wherein the second layer comprises a polymer selected from the group consisting of polyethylene, polypropylene, polyethylene terephthalate, polylactic acid, polystyrene, polyvinyl chloride, polyester, cyclic olefin (co)polymer and copolymers and derivatives thereof.

5. The printed face laminate of claim 1 , wherein the release agent comprises silicone.

6. The printed face laminate of claim 1 , wherein the total thickness of the face laminate is in the range of 20-100 μm.

7. The printed face laminate of claim 1 , having a total average density of less than 1.0 g/cm 3 .

8. The printed face laminate of claim 1 , having a total average density of at least 1.0 g/cm 3 .

9. The printed face of claim 1 , wherein the first layer comprises a machine direction oriented film.

10. The printed face laminate of claim 1 , wherein the second layer comprises a machine direction oriented film.

11. The printed face laminate of claim 1 , wherein the first layer comprises a machine direction oriented (MDO) film and the second layer comprises a biaxially oriented film.

12. The printed face laminate of claim 1 , wherein the face laminate has a stiffness of at least 3 mN/m, as measured using Lorentzen & Wettre (L&W) method.

13. The wash-off removable printed face laminate of claim 1 , wherein the individual labels are selected from round, angular, elliptical, square, or shapes having a combination of angular and arched shapes.

14. The wash-off removable printed face laminate of claim 1 , wherein the uncut bridge between individual labels has a width that is smaller than a largest width of an individual label along the length of the continuous label web.

15. The wash-off removable printed face laminate of claim 1 , wherein the uncut bridge is weakened by perforating, thinning, kiss cutting or partial cutting.

16. The wash-off removable printed face laminate of claim 1 , wherein the first layer and/or the second layer comprises the non-annealed monoaxially oriented film and has an areal shrinkage in the direction of the orientation of at least 5% at 80° C. defined by ASTM D2732.

17. The wash-off removable printed face laminate of claim 1 , wherein the pressure sensitive adhesive has a peel value of less than 0.2 N/25 mm at 65° C.

18. The wash-off removable printed face laminate of claim 1 , wherein the pressure sensitive adhesive layer exhibits a peel adhesion of 2-12 times less at 65° C. than at room temperature.

19. The wash-off removable printed face laminate of claim 1 , wherein the pressure sensitive adhesive has a solubility of less than 25% in an aqueous alkaline solution at temperature of 65° C.

20. The wash-off removable printed face laminate of claim 1 , wherein an individual label separated from the wash-off removable printed face laminate is attached to the surface of a plastic bottle exhibiting heat shrinkage during washing.

21. The wash-off removable printed face laminate of claim 1 , wherein an individual label separated from the wash-off removable printed face laminate is attached to a polyethylene terephthalate bottle exhibiting heat shrinkage during washing.

22. The wash-off removable printed face laminate of claim 1 , wherein the second adhesive layer consists of a UV curable acrylic adhesive.

23. A method for producing a wash-off removable printed face laminate, the method comprising
providing a printable laminate having one or more printable surface(s) and multiple layers in the following order:
a first layer comprising a thermoplastic polymer or fiber-based material,
a first adhesive layer comprising a pressure sensitive adhesive capable of forming a bond when pressure is applied at room temperature, wherein the pressure sensitive adhesive is an acrylic-based adhesive selected from emulsion and water-based pressure sensitive adhesives exhibit a reduction in adhesive force at 65° C.;
a release layer comprising a release agent, and
a second layer comprising a thermoplastic polymer;

printing on the one or more printable surface(s);
separating
the first layer and the first adhesive layer, from
the release layer and the second layer;

rearranging
the release layer and the second layer

on top of
the first layer and the first adhesive layer, with the release layer on top of the construction;

laminating the first layer and the second layer together with a second adhesive layer, to form the printed face laminate of claim 1 ; and
winding the printed face laminate into a roll,
wherein the second adhesive layer comprises an adhesive selected from the group consisting of a polyurethane adhesive and a UV curable acrylic adhesive, wherein adhesion of the second adhesive does not substantially decrease at the washing conditions so that the first layer and the second layer attached with the second adhesive will not be separated during washing.

24. The method of claim 23 , wherein the printable laminate having

Assignees

• Upm Raflatac Oy

Inventors

• Mitchell Noel
• Korman Klaudia
• Forsstrom Jan-Erik
• Saxberg Tom

Classifications

• B32B2307/736

  Shrinkable · CPC title

• C09J2467/006

  in the substrate · CPC title

• B32B2307/516

  mono-axially · CPC title

• B32B27/302

  comprising aromatic vinyl (co)polymers, e.g. styrenic (co)polymers · CPC title

• B29B17/02

  Separating plastics from other materials · CPC title