Printed foamed film package

Abstract

A method of constructing a package having printed indicia of acceptable quality includes providing at least one layer of foamed thin film wherein the layer of foamed thin film has a caliper of between 10 and 250 microns and comprises between 5% to 50% density reduction as compared to a non-foamed thin film of substantially the same caliper and composition. A first surface of the at least one layer of foamed thin film is the printed surface of the package. The indicia is printed on the printed surface by applying ink to a printer surface and contacting the printed surface with the inked printer surface to coat the printed surface with ink. The printer surface includes a plurality of dots configured to contact the printed surface to imprint the indicia on the printed surface. The surfaces of the dots have a dot percentage of no more than about 70%.

Description

CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION[0001]This application claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional Application Nos. 61 / 074,344, filed on Jun. 20, 2008 and 61 / 075,170, filed on Jun. 24, 2008, the substances of which are incorporated herein by reference.FIELD OF THE INVENTION[0002]This invention relates to the field of packages comprising a foamed film layer.BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION[0003]Polyolefin plastic film is used to construct a wide variety of packages such as bags and pouches that hold consumer goods. For example, bags holding stacks of disposable diapers or hygiene articles, pouches for wet wipes, and bags containing granular laundry detergent are often made from plastic film. The plastic film that forms a package may be a single layer of film (called a monofilm), a combination of layers that are co-extruded, or a laminate of separately produced layers that are adhered to one another. In virtually all packages, some sort of indicia is printed on the plastic film.[0004]Two ...

AI Technical Summary

Problems solved by technology

Much of the cost associated with plastic film packages is the cost of the plastic resin that is used to make the film.

The rough texture, caused by the presence of the voids in the film, makes it difficult to print directly on the foamed thin film using flexographic or rotogravure printing.

The rough texture tends to cause voids in ink coverage due to the recesses in the surface not contacting the print plate.

In addition to detracting from the appearance of a package and its graphics and text, these voids in ink coverage may degrade an image of a bar code to a such a degree that a bar code reader could not decode the bar code.

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