Reifenhäuser Cast Sheet Coating sells Europe’s widest cast film line

In the production of BOPP, lines of widths beyond 4,000mm has long since been standard. In the production of CPP, these widths were unusual in the past. However, this is increasingly changing due to a growing pressure on prices.

This summer, Reifenhäuser Cast Sheet Coating will put a 5,300mm wide MIDEX cast film line into operation at a Portuguese film producer. It will be the widest cast film line in Europe, enabling the production of films with a finished width of up to 4,800mm. And even larger widths will be possible in the future. Reifenhäuser’s portfolio includes cast film lines with up to 6,700mm wide rolls.

Mark Borutta, from Reifenhäuser Cast Sheet Coating’s sales department, said: “We expect a strongly growing market for volume products in the coming years. Beside flexible lines in the medium performance range, mainly European producers will need high-performance lines for volume products. This summer, we will ship a further line beyond 4,000mm width to another European customer.”

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 an optimised coat hanger channel design.

For winding the film, Reifenhäuser 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 6,700mm has been the standard for many years. The winders are used for producing jumbo rolls of up to 1,200mm diameter on steel cores for subsequent conversion to the requested film dimensions.