Humans like to communicate in acronyms, abbreviations and inside lingo. After I set up an appointment for a medical test, I got a call back. They said I didn’t have an oth. ” What’s an oth ?” ” An authorization, sir ” Brings to mind the scene in ” The Heat”
The flexible packaging business is no exception. The written descriptions of multilayer packaging structures can be confusing. Here are some plain explanations of commonly encountered cryptic abbreviations followed by some examples:
/ designates a dividing line between two layers
adh. short for “adhesive”
BOPP biaxially oriented polypropylene
COPP copolymer polypropylene
CPP cast polypropylene
EAA ethylene acrylic acid
EVA or VA ethylene vinyl acetate ( should specify % of VA copolymer )
EVOH ethylene vinyl alcohol natural habitat is in the core layer of coex for barrier
ga. gauge one mil = 100 ” gauge” manufacturers chisel thickness, so “.94 ga.” is as close to 1 mil as you’ll find for PET;
“48 ga.” is popular in PP
foil foil
HDPE High Density Polyethylene
LDPE Low Density Polyethylene ( most common sealant layer of a flexible lamination )
LLDPE Linear Low Density Polyethylene
MDPE Medium Density Polyethylene
METOPP Metallized Oriented Polypropylene
METPET Metallized Polyester
NYL nylon
PA nylon
PE polyethylene
PET polyester ( not to be confused with polyethylene terephthalate which has the same abbreviation )
PPFP paper poly foil poly
poly polyethylene
PP polypropylene
prt print
PVDC polyvinylidene dichloride ( a/k/a Saran )
surlyn Surlyn
tie tie layer ( always found in coextrustions, never in laminations ). necessary to deal with the difference in rheology ( viscosity ) of different layers.
wht white
Thus, a callout like this:
PE / adh. / METPET/ adh / CPP
would in English mean: LDPE sealant layer ( the PE layer is always the sealant layer ) laminated to metallized polyester laminated to cast polypropylene.
When you encounter ” LAM” in between slashes, it means same thing as adhesive. short for “lamination “
There are a zillion possible combinations. If you run into one you can’t translate, call us.
