Hamburg/Mainz, Germany -- Late last summer the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved the PICVD coating process of the German company SCHOTT HiCotec, Mainz, and that is a barrier coating for PET food and drink packages.

The approval opened up excellent chances for the US and Asian markets for the PLASMAX barrier technology for PET bottles introduced by SIG Corpoplast, Hamburg.

 
The PICVD (Plasma Impulse Chemical Vapor Deposition) coating significantly reduces the penetration of oxygen or the loss of carbon dioxide through plastic packages and thus permits a significant increase in the shelf life of the contents. With this process, the PLASMAX for the first time meets all of the requirements of the packaging industry: the layers of glass-like SIO2 are extremely thin and homogenous, have a very good adhesion on the bottles and provide unrivalled barrier properties. In addition, their application is very economical compared with other barrier layers.

Plasma Deposition Mcahine

SIG Corpoplast and SCHOTT HiCotec are cooperating in the PET drinks packaging application and jointly develop and build machines for the coating of PET bottles. Within this cooperation, SIG Corpoplast markets the PLASMAX and also provides after-sales service, including maintenance, while SCHOTT HiCotec has agreed to make the PICVD barrier coating technology for the food and drinks markets exclusively available to SIG Corpoplast.

A prototype of the PLASMAX 12D has already been developed and is operating with an output of 10,000 bottles per hour in the production of the lead customer.

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