Reifenhäuser sells Europe’s widest cast film line; ties up with Brückner for the winder

In the production of BOPP, lines of widths beyond 4,000 mm have long been a standard. In the production of CPP, these widths were unusual in the past. However, this is increasingly changing due to a growing pressure on the prices – notably for volume applications such as metallisable and laminating films.

As such, Germany-headquartered Reifenhäuser Cast Sheet Coating has sold a 5,300 mm wide Midex cast film line to a Portuguese film producer. It is said to be the widest cast film line in Europe enabling the production of films with a finished width of up to 4,800 mm.

Mark Borutta from Reifenhäuser Cast Sheet Coating’s sales department says: “We expect a strongly growing market for volume products in the coming years. Beside flexible lines in the medium performance range, high-performance lines for volume products will be needed mainly by European producers. This summer, we will ship a further line beyond 4,000 mm width to another European customer.“ Reifenhäuser’s portfolio includes cast film lines with up to 6,700 mm wide rolls.

The greatest challenge in the production of such large systems is the design and manufacture of the dies. Reifenhäuser Cast Sheet Coating has available its own flat dies and can draw on the know-how of the Reifenhäuser Group: sister company Reicofil, a manufacturer of nonwoven systems, has been using dies of such large width for many years. The uniform melt distribution over the entire film width is ensured by a rheologically optimised coathanger channel design.

For winding the film, Reifenhäuser Cast Sheet Coating has found in Brückner a partner with great expertise in large widths: For Brückner, the design and manufacture of turret winders with widths of up to 6,700 mm has been the standard for many years. The winders are used for producing jumbo rolls of max. 1,200 mm diameter on steel cores for subsequent conversion to the requested film dimensions.