Download Audio File What came first, the chicken or the egg? When determining how to initiate a new product in the marketplace, most converting companies face a similar paradox. Do you build a coating line and invest in the infrastructure designed around a product, or do you contract out [...]

Download Audio File Sometimes there is a complex, multivariable solution to a coating defect and sometimes…well, let me get the issue in front of you first, then we'll discover the solution. When coating a substrate with a fluid, the liquid has two cross-sectional areas of concern: the cross-web uniformity the [...]

Download Audio File Why would you coat with a roller instead of a knife; a rod instead of a slot die? There are many methods for fluid coating and just as many techniques for utilizing the equipment. Outside of space constraints, original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) have made it possible [...]

Download Audio File One of the most common issues in coating is bubbles. Not solids. Not liquids. Bubbles. Where do bubbles come from, and how can we avoid the defects they create? Well, first of all, the bubbles are air. Air can be introduced in a variety of points [...]

Download Audio File When a fluid is being coated out of a slot die, it can be positioned in a variety of ways. This ability to position the coating head is an inherent capability of the slot die because of the closed system mode of operation. In a typical arrangement, [...]

Download Audio File Typically, when you coat a fluid onto a substrate, the fluid flows to the limits of the coating head and provides a solid layer of fluid over the substrate. Sometimes, however, the fluid resists this reformation and coating defects occur. Pinholes, ribs, and beading-up of the [...]

Download Audio File Recently, a lot has been asked of coating technology. Products in the printed electronic fields, such as solar panels and battery technology, have pushed the limits of traditional roll-to-roll processes. For a production facility to have a technical edge, a coating solution must be robust enough [...]

Download Audio File Whether you work in the battery industry, the packaging industry, or the publishing industry, you have come across these two words: coating and printing. For as different as they are, it is easy to confuse the technologies and the capabilities. Both processes provide an operator the [...]

Download Audio File If you have worked around a coating process facility, you have undoubtedly heard someone refer to the coating process window. This statistical assessment of the capabilities of the equipment as it interacts with the materials is the key to optimizing the money you can make. Whoa! [...]

Download Audio File Every coating process engineer and equipment operator wants to know where to start when a coating problem surfaces with their product. So let's start with the surface of the problem. The main thing to do is properly identify the coating defect you are seeing. This will [...]