Lamination Business

A laminate is a material constructed by uniting two or more layers of material together. The process of creating a laminate is lamination, which in common parlance refers to the placing of something between layers of plastic and sealing them with heat and/or pressure, usually with an adhesive. However, in electrical engineering, lamination is a construction technique used to reduce unwanted heating effects due to eddy currents in components, such as the magnetic cores of transformers. Laminating paper, such as photographs, can prevent it from becoming creased, sun damaged, wrinkled, stained, smudged, abraded and/or marked by grease, fingerprints and environmental concerns. Photo identification cards and credit cards are almost always laminated with plastic film. Lamination is also used in sculpture using wood or resin. An example of an artist who used lamination in his work is the American, Floyd Shaman.

Lamination of photographs was invented by Dr. Morris M. Blum, a doctor of dental medicine in New York, in 1938. Although the field of applied dentistry today uses advanced dental laminates, the practice dates to the mid-1800s, when clear plastic resins were first used to cap and bond to the enamel surfaces of teeth. Dr. Blum, however, saw a different use for the thin shells of laminate material: the protection of photographs. In 1938, Dr. Blum laminated the first photograph -- one of his wife -- and lamination was born. To this day, the University of Minnesota recognizes his achievements with an annual Morris Blum Memorial Lectureship.

Pouch laminators are designed for moderate use in the office or home. These inexpensive machines are quite effective. However, for continuous, large-volume lamination projects, a roll laminator performs more efficiently. Pouches can be bought with different thicknesses in micrometres (referred to as MIC). Standard home or office machines normally use 80-250 micrometre pouches, depending on the quality of the machine. The thicker the pouch, the higher the cost.

Cold lamination increased in popularity with the rise of wide format inkjet printers, which often used inks and papers incompatible with hot lamination. A large percentage of cold laminate for use in the print industry is PVC, although a wide range of other materials are available. Cold laminating processes are also used outside of the print industry, for example coating sheet glass or stainless steel with protective films. Cold roll laminators are also used for laying down adhesive films in the sign making industry, for example mounting a large print onto a board. A practiced operator can apply a large adhesive sheet in a fraction of the time it takes to do so by hand.