Printable label comprising a clear face layer and a clear adhesive layer

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9809730-B2
Application number	US-201514735197-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jun 10, 2015
Priority date	Jun 10, 2015
Publication date	Nov 7, 2017
Grant date	Nov 7, 2017

Abstract

An adhesive label comprises:
a face layer, and an adhesive layer,

wherein the face layer comprises semi-crystalline polymeric film, the adhesive layer consists of one or more adhesive sub-layers, a lowermost adhesive sub-layer of said adhesive sub-layers comprises transparent polymeric adhesive, the thickness of the face layer is in the range of 10 μm to 50 μm, the thickness of the adhesive layer is in the range of 8 μm to 25 μm, the thickness of the adhesive layer is smaller than 95% of the thickness of the face layer, an uppermost sub-layer of said adhesive sub-layers is in contact with the face layer, and the refractive index of the uppermost adhesive sub-layer is in the range of 80% to 98.5% of the refractive index of the semi-crystalline polymeric film.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A label, comprising:
a face layer, and
an adhesive layer,
wherein the face layer comprises semi-crystalline polymeric film, the adhesive layer consists of one or more adhesive sub-layers, a lowermost adhesive sub-layer of said adhesive sub-layers comprises transparent polymeric adhesive, the thickness of the face layer is in the range of 10 μm to 50 μm, the thickness of the adhesive layer is in the range of 8 μm to 25 μm, the thickness of the adhesive layer is smaller than 95% of the thickness of the face layer, an uppermost sub-layer of said adhesive sub-layers is in contact with the face layer, and the refractive index of the uppermost adhesive sub-layer is in the range of 80% to 98.5% of the refractive index of the semi-crystalline polymeric film;
wherein the label is attached to a release liner such that the adhesive layer is between the face layer and the release liner;
wherein the label is carried by the release layer, and the release value of the label is higher than 0.15 N in a situation where a sample piece of the label is separated from the release liner at an angle of 180° at a velocity of 1200 inches per minute at the temperature of 25° C., the width of said sample piece being equal to 2 inches.

2. The label of claim 1 , wherein the total thickness of the label is in the range of 150% to 195% of the thickness of the face layer, the total thickness of the label being the thickness from the uppermost surface of the face layer to the lowermost surface of the lowermost adhesive sub-layer.

3. The label of claim 1 , wherein the semi-crystalline polymeric film is a polyester film.

4. The label of claim 3 , wherein the polyester film is polyethylene terephthalate film.

5. The label of claim 4 , wherein the permeability of the face layer for air is higher than or equal to 1 cm 3 /m 2 ·24 hours 100 kPa at the temperature of 25° C.

6. The label of claim 3 , wherein the tensile modulus of the face layer is higher than or equal to 4000 MPa in a machine direction.

7. The label of claim 3 , wherein the polyester film is bi-axially oriented, and the tensile strength of the polyester film is higher than or equal to 200 MPa in a machine direction, and the tensile strength of the polyester film is higher than or equal to 200 MPa in a cross direction.

8. The label of claim 3 , wherein the hardness of the face layer is higher than 94 in the Rockwell M scale.

9. The label of claim 1 , wherein the polymeric adhesive comprises an acrylic emulsion polymer.

10. The label of claim 1 , wherein the surface tension of the polymeric adhesive is lower than or equal to 40 dyn/cm at the temperature of 25° C.

11. The label of claim 1 , wherein the advancing contact angle for wetting a polyethylene terephthalate surface with the polymeric adhesive is lower than 70° at the temperature of 25° C.

12. The label of claim 1 , wherein the uppermost surface of the label has been coated with a release coating.

13. The label of claim 1 wherein the release liner comprises polyester.

14. The label of claim 1 , wherein the semi-crystalline polymeric film is a polyester film, and the refractive index of the polyester film is in the range of 1.55 to 1.65 at the wavelength of 550 nm.

15. The label of claim 1 , wherein the face layer has been stretched so that the refractive index of the face layer is higher than 1.60.

16. The label of claim 1 comprising a printed region.

17. The label of claim 16 , wherein the printed region has been implemented between the face layer and the adhesive layer.

18. The label of claim 16 , wherein the shape of the perimeter of the printed region of the label is substantially different from the shape of the perimeter of the label.

19. The label of claim 1 , wherein the semi-crystalline polymeric film is a polyester film, and the haze level of the polyester film is lower than or equal to 6.5%.

20. A labeled item, comprising a label attached to the surface of the item, said label comprising:
a face layer, and
an adhesive layer,
wherein the face layer comprises semi-crystalline polymeric film, the adhesive layer consists of one or more adhesive sub-layers, a lowermost adhesive sub-layer of said adhesive sub-layers comprises transparent polymeric adhesive, the thickness of the face layer is in the range of 10 μm to 50 μm, the thickness of the adhesive layer is in the range of 8 μm to 25 μm, the thickness of the adhesive layer is smaller than 95% of thickness of the face layer, an uppermost sub-layer of said adhesive sub-layers is in contact with the face layer, and the refractive index of the uppermost adhesive sub-layer is in the range of 80% to 98.5% of the refractive index of the semi-crystalline polymeric film; and
wherein the surface roughness value of the surface is in the range of 0.5 μm to 5 μm.

21. The labeled item of claim 20 , wherein the surface of the item has a first reflection coefficient, a labeled portion of the labeled item has a second reflection coefficient, and the relative difference between the first reflection coefficient and the second reflection coefficient is smaller than 20%.

22. The labeled item of claim 20 , wherein an interface between the face layer and the adhesive layer has a reflection coefficient, the uppermost layer of the label has a reflection coefficient, and the reflection coefficient of the interface is smaller than 10% of the reflection coefficient of the uppermost layer.

23. The labeled item of claim 20 , wherein the label comprises a printed region between the face layer and the adhesive layer, and the distance between the printed region and the surface of the item is in the range of 50% to 95% of the thickness of the face layer.

24. The labeled item of claim 20 , wherein the item is a transparent container made of glass.

25. The labeled item of claim 20 , wherein the item is a transparent container made of polyethylene terephthalate.

26. The labeled item of claim 20 , wherein the uppermost surface of the label comprises silicone polymer.

27. The labeled item of claim 20 , wherein the label comprises a clear portion to transmit illuminating light to the surface of the item and to transmit reflected light from the surface of the item to the eye of a viewer.

28. A label, comprising:
a face layer, and
an adhesive layer,
wherein the face layer comprises semi-crystalline polymeric film, the adhesive layer consists of one or more adhesive sub-layers, a lowermost adhesive sub-layer of said adhesive sub-layers comprises transparent polymeric adhesive, the thickness of the face layer is in the range of 10 μm to 50 μm, the thickness of the adhesive layer is in the range of 8 μm to 25 μm, the thickness of the adhesive layer is smaller than 95% of the thickness of the face layer, an uppermost sub-layer of said adhesive sub-layers is in contact with the face layer, and the refractive index of the uppermost adhesive sub-layer is in the range of 80% to 98.5% of the refractive index of the semi-crystalline polymeric film; and
wherein the face layer has been stretched so that the refractive index of the face layer is higher than 1.60.

29. A labeled item, comprising a label attached to the surface of the item, said label comprising:
a face layer, and
an adhesive layer,
wherein the face layer comprises semi-crystalline polymeric film, the adhesive layer consists of one or more adhesive sub-l

Assignees

• Upm Raflatac Oy

Inventors

• Naik Kirit
• Goss Patrick
• Saxberg Tom
• Mitchell Noel
• Pietari Ismo

Classifications

• B32B2307/704

  Crystalline · CPC title

• B32B2405/00

  Adhesive articles, e.g. adhesive tapes · CPC title

• G09F3/02

  Forms or constructions (layered products B32B) · CPC title

• B32B2307/75

  Printability · CPC title

• G09F2003/0257

  Multilayer · CPC title