Types of Lamination in Packaging: Wet, Dry & Thermal Lamination
Whether it is in supermarkets, pharmacy stores, or cosmetic shops, we can see flexible packaging everywhere in our daily lives. It offers protective properties, strong visual appeal, and high compatibility with a wide range of shapes, making flexible packaging a preferred choice for many manufacturers.
The primary manufacturing method for flexible packaging is lamination, which is a process that bonds multiple layers of materials. However, lamination includes several different varieties. In this comprehensive article, we will explore the world of lamination, analysing different types of lamination and their distinct features.
What is Lamination?
In the flexible packaging industry, lamination is a widely used manufacturing process. It bonds two or more layers of material into a single, unified structure. It glues film layers together, creating a strong and functional sheet that can be applied to many types of product packaging.
These layers may consist of paper, aluminum foil, or other specialized materials. Once combined, they offer enhanced protection, durability, and visual appeal to the final outputs. Laminated film helps maintain product freshness and safeguards from moisture, daily wear, or external damage. Moreover, it elevates the overall appearance of the packaging. These features make the lamination process an essential part of modern flexible packaging solutions.
Common Types of Lamination in Flexible Packaging
The types of lamination processes may vary depending on different manufacturing requirements, such as production volume, budget, and application. We will go through the common types of lamination in this section to offer you a more comprehensive understanding.
Wet Lamination
Wet lamination is to apply liquid adhesives like water-based, solvent-based, or solventless adhesives onto one film, then bond it with other film materials. After laminating the films, a heating process and a cure time are required to dry the adhesive.
Advantages
Wet lamination is compatible with various adhesive options. Additionally, it's a more cost-effective choice than other lamination methods due to the lower cost of raw materials.
Disadvantages
The wet lamination process has a lengthy cure period, taking a few hours or even a few days to dry or cure the liquid adhesives. As a result, the production efficiency is lower than that of other methods.
Applications
Wet lamination is suitable for large-scale production with sufficient lead time due to its time-consuming process. It is often applied to laminate paper with foil, paper, and BOPP, a thermoplastic polymer that is similar to PET. Common applications include cookie box inserts and tea leaf packaging.
Dry Lamination
The dry lamination process starts with coating the film with water-based or solvent-based adhesives. In contrast to wet lamination, it dries out the adhesives before lamination, forming a viscosity layer. Then, laminating this layer with other films using heat and pressure.
Advantages
The dry lamination process provides strong bonding strength, providing the high-barrier properties and heat-resistance feature.
Disadvantages
The machine setup for dry lamination is complex and consumes large amounts of energy. Moreover, it requires 1 to 3 days to cure the adhesives, which is not suitable for applications with a short lead time.
Applications
With its heat-resistant and high-barrier properties, dry lamination is perfect for producing products like retort pouches, sterilized packaging, and medical pouches.
Solventless Lamination
The solventless lamination process first applies adhesives without solvent, then laminates the film with other substrates under pressure. Since the solvent-free adhesive contains no solvent to evaporate, it relies on curing to form a strong bond between the films.
Advantages
Solventless lamination is an environmentally friendly process. It does not contain solvents, eliminating the release of VOCs (Volatile Organic Compounds), which are chemical compounds that are harmful to both the environment and human health.
Disadvantages
The curing process has low tolerance for error, requiring precise control of mixing ratios and coating weight, as incorrect parameters can lead to insufficient adhesion and material waste.
Applications
Solventless lamination offers great safety for both humans and the environment. Due to the elimination of solvent residues, solventless lamination is widely used in the production of food, medicine, and personal care packaging.
Thermal Lamination
Without the need to apply adhesives during the production process, thermal lamination pre-coats a heat-activated adhesive layer and laminates it with other substrates. It only requires heat and pressure to bond the layers together, which significantly reduces the processing time.
Advantages
Thermal lamination does not require a coating or curing process. The final products can be processed immediately, offering an efficient, user-friendly, and energy-saving production line.
Disadvantages
It requires film layers that are pre-coated with adhesive, which limits the range of materials that can be used. In addition, the final laminated structure may not always meet the required standards for heat resistance or barrier performance.
Applications
Thermal lamination is ideal for small-scale production with a rapid lead time. Moreover, due to its features of a fast bonding process, thermal lamination is also suitable for digital printing applications with diverse packaging designs.
Summary of Differences
This table provides a clear view of the differences between the lamination types.
Types | Adhesive types | Main process | Curing time | Applications |
Wet Lamination | Water-based, solvent-based, or solventless adhesives | Adhesive applying → Laminating → Drying → Curing | Long (2-7 days) | Low-budget, large-scale production packaging |
Dry Lamination | Solidify layers with water-based or solvent-based adhesive | Adhesive applying → Drying → Laminating → Curing | Medium (1-3 days) | Heat-resistant, high-barrier performance packaging |
Solventless Lamination | Solventless adhesive | Adhesive applying → Laminating → Curing | Medium (2-4 days) | Protective, durable, and safe packaging |
Thermal Lamination | Pre-coated, heat-activated adhesive | Heating → Laminating | Short (Immediate lamination) | Digital printing, small-batch, multi-design packaging |
Conclusion
In conclusion, a high-quality, functional, and attractive packaging is the key to both product safety and consumer experience. Lamination provides durability, protection, and visual aesthetics to the packaging by bonding multiple layers of materials. By understanding the different types of lamination processes and their unique features, manufacturers can select the most suitable method to meet specific product requirements.
To meet the growing demand for high-quality packaging production, Webcontrol develops various types of laminating machines. We are committed to ensuring every manufacturer finds the ideal machine setup. Contact us for suggestions on laminating technology.
2026-01-30