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New deco tech

Plenty of Packaging World readers remember Arnie Orloski, editor of this magazine before he retired a few years back.

One thing Arnie hated to do is provide coverage of packaging technologies when they were still in the pre-commercial stage. “Too many mad scientists out there,” he’d say. He thought it better to let the marketplace “endorse” a new technology on a commercial basis before writing about it.

I’m sure it’s imprudent to ignore the advice of a guy who’s been inducted into the Packaging Hall of Fame. But a couple of new package decorating technologies I’ve been reading about lately are so intriguing and have so much potential, I thought I’d sidestep Arnie’s rule for once and touch on them now even though they aren’t exactly commercial hits.

The first, from a startup out of Ireland called Ntera, is a part of that fascinating field known as printed electronics. Called NanoChromics display (NCD) technology, it’s an application of nanotechnology that makes it possible to mass produce electronic displays on a wide variety of packaging substrates at low cost and with minimal power requirements. Picture a package made of paper or plastic whose graphics, rather than being static images created by ink on a substrate, are dynamic and interactive displays. That’s what NCD technology aims to deliver.

According to Ntera, an NCD display can be printed with industry-standard screen printing, flexo, or ink-jet printing equipment. The technology is based on something called “electrochromism,” where materials change color when a charge is applied. Ntera refers to the new technology as an example of “printegration,” where a display, a sensor, and a charge-storing layer are integrated by way of successive layered printing steps.

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Editors report on distinguishing characteristics that define each new product and collected video demonstrating the equipment or materials as displayed at the show. This topical report, winnowed from nearly 300 PACK EXPO collective booth visits, represents a categorized, organized account of individual items that were selected based on whether they were deemed to be both new, and truly innovative, based on decades of combined editorial experience in experiencing and evaluating PACK EXPO products.
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