HIGH GLOSS, LOW FRICTION PLASTICS SHEET, METHOD OF PRODUCTION THEREOF, AND CONTAINER MADE FROM THE SHEET

Abstract: A plastics sheet or laminate having the sheet as an outer layer has a surface of low friction and high gloss which is produced by extruding a layer of thermoplastic and pressing it while hot against the surface of a chill roller. The chill roller is highly polished and has minute randomly distributed superficial depressions therein of an average depth of about 5 microns, a depth standard deviation of less than 3 microns, an average frequency of about 3,000 per square centimeter, and an average area per depression of less than 1,000 square microns. The depressions are convex with rounded peripher­ ies and are reproduced - as prominences - on the thermo­ plastic face material. The surface will have a coefficient of friction generally less than 1.0 with respect to itself, while nonetheless retaining a high gloss appearance. The sheet is useful as a protective outer layer of tubular containers e.g. toothpaste tubes.

Description: The present invention relates to high gloss, low friction plastics sheet, method of production thereof, and container made from the sheet. The field of this invention is plastics extrusion and lamination processes for producing products from extruded plastics. Multiple layer products composed of laminates of plastics and other materials find common application in a variety of packages and containers. One example is a toothpaste tube, or similar tube for handling other fluent materials, in which the walls of the tube are usually composed of layers of plastics material, metal foil, and sometimes paper. The several components of the laminated wall contribute a combination of properties to the container which may not be possible to obtain in a single layer wall. Typically the wall from which the tube is formed will provide a gas and moisture barrier, will be resistant to the chemicals inside the tube, will be heat sealable on the inner and outer layers to allow heat sealed joints to be formed, and will provide an outermost layer protecting printing and decoration on the tube. The outer layer of a tube package is particularly critical since, in addition to protecting the printing and other layers beneath, it should have a high gloss for aesthetic appeal. The attractiveness of the complete package is particularly dependent upon the gloss of the surface of the outer layer, and, in addition, the glossiness of the outer surface affects the visual impression transmitted from the printing below the outer layer. Distortion and "fuzzing" of the printing can occur if the outer surface is dull or has a matte finish because of the random refraction of light transmitted through the outer protective layer. It has been found, however, that extremely glossy or smooth surfaced outer layers also have a very high coefficient of friction which can lead to stacking and handling problems when the tubes are in contact with one another. The high friction of the outer surface also creates a problem when the flat wall stock is drawn through a forming die to form the tubes, since the outer surface will be in dragging contact with the die. To minimize the coefficient friction of a plastic surface, it is known to use a roughened or matte surfaced chill roll which impresses the extruded layer of plastic with a multitude of depressions and projections. See for example, US-PS 3,540,959. While such a matte finish can be used on the inside surface of a tube container, it is not satisfactory for the outside surface where gloss and clarity are important. High gloss is an especially important characteristic for the outer layer of a tube product because the curvature of the tube renders a dull surface finish more readily apparent to an observer. The invention commences from US-A-3,300,286 which discloses a method of producing a plastics sheet having a surface with both high gloss and low coefficient of friction characteristics, wherein a thermoplastic material is extruded to form a heated thermoplastic layer and the said layer is pressed, while still in a softened state, with a chill roll which is maintained at a temperature at which it will cool and harden the surface of the layer contacted thereby, the chill roll having a grit-blasted, polished surface which has minute irregularly shaped depressions distributed thereover. According to this U.S. patent, the sheet attains a lustre which is a compromise between that obtained by mirror finish and matte finish rolls. Among the aims of this invention is the provision of a plastics sheet having a surface which exhibits a higher gloss than has been attained in practice by following the teaching of US-A-3,300,286, and which possesses a surface configuration achieving a coefficient of friction of the surface that is only slightly worse than that achievable by following the teaching of US-A-3,300,286. In deriving the present invention, we acquired a polished roll made according to US-A-3,300,286 from the proprietors of that patent, and achieved significantly improved results in terms of gloss by polishing it greatly to alter the characteristics of the depressions in its surface. Starting from US-A-3,300,286 therefore, the present invention is a method of producing a plastics sheet having a surface with both high gloss and low coefficient of friction characteristics, wherein a thermoplastic material is extruded to form a heated thermoplastic layer and the said layer is pressed, while still in a softened state, with a chill roll which is maintained at a temperature at which it will cool and harden the surface of the layer contacted thereby, the chill roll having a grit-blasted, polished surface which has minute irregularly shaped depressions distributed thereover, the depressions having depths of 1 to 30 microns, an average depth of 12 microns with a standard deviation of the depth of 6.25 microns and the frequency of the depressions over the surface of the roll being in excess of 3,000 per square centimeter, characterised in that the grit-blasted and polished surface has been polished down to such an extent that the randomly-distributed irregularly shaped depressions are substantially convex and rounded about the peripheries thereof on said surface, and their average depths are reduced to about 5 microns with a standard deviation of the depth of less than 3 microns, there being an average frequency of depressions over the surface of the roll of approximately 3,000 per square centimeter, and the average area of each depression being less than 16,000 square microns. Likewise, the present invention provides a plastics sheet having a surface of high gloss and low coefficient of friction, the surface being comprised of a layer of thermoplastic material with a smooth surface interrupted by randomly-distributed prominences, characterised in that the prominences have an average height of about 5 microns with a standard deviation of the height of the prominences about the average of less than 3 microns, an average frequency of the prominences over the surface of the sheet of approximately 3,000 per square centimeter and an average area of each prominence of less than 16,000 square microns, the prominences having irregular shapes with substantially convex and rounded peripheries on the said surface such as are obtainable by subjecting the thermoplastic layer to the method defined in the last paragraph. Further, the present invention provides a container having a layer as or near the outermost layer comprising a thermoplastics material having a smooth surface interrupted by randomly distributed prominences characterised as set forth in the last preceding paragraph. Also, according to the present invention, there is provided a chill roll for use in practising the method of this invention, which roll is grit-blasted forming randomly-distributed irregularly shaped depressions in the surface thereof and chromium plated, the surface of the roll having depressions whose depths range from 1 to 30 microns, an average depth of 12 microns with a standard deviation of the depth of 6.25 microns and the frequency of the depressions over the surface of the roll being in excess of 3,000 per square centimeter, characterised in that the plated surface is polished to such an extent that the peripheries on the said surface of the irregularly shaped depressions therein are rendered substantially convex and rounded and the average area thereof is reduced to about 5 microns with a standard deviation of the depth of less than 3 microns, the average frequency of depressions over the roll surface being approximately 3,000 per square centimeter; and the average area of each depression being less than 16,000 square microns. The roll which we acquired from the proprietors of US-A-3,300,286 and which we used to develop this invention, had irregular, jagged depressions preferably 7.62 to 15.24 microns deep. On inspection, we found the average depth of the depressions was 12 microns with a standard deviation of about 6.25 microns. GB-A-1,012,530 and equivalent BE-A-63649 disclose a chill roll for processing plastics. The roll is chromium plated and polished, and thereafter subjected to a final treatment involving blasting with water bearing glass beads to pit the polished surface, forming regular generally hemispheroidal depressions therein. When practising the present invention, a surface of an extruded layer of plastics material is passed into contact with a chill roll which conditions and hardens the surface of the plastic layer. The resulting surface has a high gloss, which can average 60 to 70 units on the Gardner gloss standard at an angle of 20 o , and can exhibit a face-to-face coefficient of friction of between 0.1 and 1.0 on a Kayeness friction tester. There is relatively little scattering of the light transmitted through or reflected from the surface of the layer. The surface of the plastics layer treated by the chill roll is found to be a smooth surface interrupted by randomly distributed microscopic prominences with an average height varying from 2 to 10 microns. The convex, rounded and smooth prominences differ from the prominences produced by conventional pocket chill rolls, for the latter prominences are generally irregular and jagged about their peripheries. The thermoplastic layer having a surface conditioned as described above is preferably coated on to a base layer, which itself may be a laminate of several materials, to make a layered structure suitable to form a wall of a tube container. The entire laminated structure may then be shaped in a die into a tubular form with overlapping edges to be heat sealed together, the conditioned surface layer forming the outermost layer of the tube and covering any printing or decoration on the base layer to which it is coated. The chill roll is a hard surfaced roll which is first blasted with a fine grit to form minute surface depressions, of random distribution and varying depth, and is then chromium plated. The roll so formed is then highly polished to remove a substantial portion of the chromium surface of the roll until the depressions within the roll have an average depth of about 5 microns, (within a range of about 2 to 10 microns) and a standard deviation of less than about 3 microns, and having an average area of less than 16,000 square microns. The resulting plastics product, whether it be a single layer or a multi-layer laminate, has a surface which is both high in gloss and substantially lower in coefficient of friction than is commonly observed with present high gloss tube packages. The invention will be described now in more detail by way of non-limitative example, with reference to the accompanying drawings and micrographs, in which: Fig. 1 is a schematic side view of extrusion and laminating apparatus used in carrying out the method according to the invention, Fig. 2 is a simplified perspective view of the shaping operation showing the step of forming a continuous tube from a web of laminate produced in accordance with the invention, Fig. 3 is a photomicrograph of the surface of a prior art chill roll, Fig. 4 is a photomicrograph of the surface of a sheet produced with the chill roll of Fig. 3, Fig. 5 is a photomicrograph, at a higher magnification, of the surface of the sheet produced with the chill roll of Fig. 3, Fig. 6 is a photomicrograph of the surface of a chill roll for use in performing the method of the present invention, Fig. 7 is a photomicrograph of the surface of a sheet produced according to this invention with the chill roll of Fig. 6, and Fig. 8 is a photomicrograph of the sheet as in Fig. 7 at a higher magnification. Fig. 1 shows a simplified side view of apparatus 10 for forming an extruded plastic sheet and for laminating sheets together. The finished laminated product is shown for illustration as having an inner surface 11 on a preformed continuous sheet or web 12, and an outer layer of thermoplastic 13. The preformed base layer 12 is typically a composite of a barrier layer formed of a material such as metal foil which is impervious to gas and moisture, with a surface layer of plastic such as polyethylene. Such a structure is illustrative only, since common wall structures for packages such as toothpaste tubes usually have more than three layers, including layers of paper and special plastics. It is also common for the outer surface of the layer 12 to have printing and decoration thereon which is covered and protected by the outermost layer 13. The present invention resides primarily in the manner of forming and surface conditioning the outermost layer 13; the base layer or laminate on which the layer 13 is laid, illustratively shown as the single layer 12, may be formed and laminated in any desired manner. The material forming the outer layer 13 may be any of the common thermoplastics which are tough and relatively transparent, such as polyethylene, polyvinyl chloride, polyvinylidine chloride, and polypropylene. The thermoplastic material is heated to a fluid state and is extruded as a single layer film from an extruder 15. The heated film, while still soft, is pressed and bonded to the surface of the composite layer 12 in a nip formed between a backup roller 16 and a chill roller 17. The finished laminate 21, comprised of the layers 12 and 13, may then be cut, as desired, and rolled into a tube by being formed over a mandrel 23 and drawn through a forming die 24 as illustrated in Fig. 2. The overlapped longitudinal edges of the laminate 21 are heat sealed together by a heated pressure roller 25, as further described in US-PS 3,540,959, or by other conventional means, such as shown in US-PS 3,388,017. In the forming of the laminate 21 into a tube, the layer 13 forms the outermost layer, which is visible to the consumer. The roller 17 which contacts what will become the outersurface of the layer 13 is typically maintained at a constant temperature while it is rotating by circulating water or another liquid through its interior. As the surface of the roller 17 contacts the hot plastic exiting from the extruder 15, the plastic drops in temperature and substantially hardens. The surface characteristics of the chill roller will thus be permanently impressed upon the surface of the plastic. To achieve the high gloss desired on the outside surface of container tubes such as those used to carry toothpaste, it has been common to use a highly polished (commonly called a mirror finish), chrome plated chill roller. Tubes formed from plastic treated with such a chill roller typically have a gloss level between 60 and 80 units (as measured with a Hunter gloss meter, at TAPPI 20 o angle) and a coefficient of friction of 6 to 8 units (as measured face-to-face on a Kayeness friction tester). The gloss and clarity of the surface obtained with such a chill roller is satasifactory, but the high level of friction presents difficulties in forming the tubes and also in handling the tubes during packing and shipping. One approach to the problem of producing extruded plastic sheets having satisfactory gloss and friction characteristics is to use a polished chill roll which has minute surface depressions. An example of such a commercial roller, manufactured by Mirror Polishing & Plating Company, is shown in the photomicrograph of Fig. 3 at a magnification of 50X. The production of this type of roller is generally described in US-PS 3,300,286. The depth of the depressions may be measured by successively focusing a microscope at the top and bottom of individual depressions and correlating the change in focus with depth. By making measurements in this manner, the depressions in the roll of Fig. 3 were found to have an average depth of 12 microns and a depth standard deviation of about 6.25 microns, varying from a minimum depth of 1 to 2 microns to a maximum depth of greater than 30 microns. The surface of a multiple layer sheet having a surface layer 13 formed of low density polyethylene using the roll of Fig. 3 as the chill roller is shown in Figs. 4 and 5. The photomicrograph of Fig.4 is at a magnification of 50X, and the photomicrograph of Fig. 5 is at a magnification of 200X. It is noted from an examination of Figs. 4 and 5 that the prominences formed on the web - corresponding to the depressions in the chill roll - are jagged and irregular about their peripheries. The source of the irregular peripheries of the prominences is revealed from an examination of Fig. 3, since the depressions in the roll have jagged peripheries. The polyethylene surface was found to have a satisfactory face-to-face coefficient of friction, in the range of 0.3 to 0.5, but the measured gloss was in the range of 25 to 40 (Gardner gloss guard, 45 o angle) compared to a gloss measurement of about 50 (Gardner gloss guard, 45 o angle) for standard polyethylene films produced with a smooth chill roller. When such a chill roller is used to produce the outer layer of a laminate in which such transparent outer layer covers printing, a slight reduction of the clarity of the printed matter is observed. The many jagged protrusions observed about the peripheries of the prominences on the plastic sheets of Figs. 4 and 5 may tend to diffuse or scatter light from the surface, thus reducing gloss. A photomicrograph at a magnification of 50X of the surface of a chill roller used to produce plastic film in accordance with the present invention is shown in Fig. 6. The roller of Fig. 6 is produced by polishing down a substantial portion of the chromium plated surface of a standard roller such as shown in Fig. 3 such that the average depth of the depressions and their average area is greatly reduced. It is found that the jagged, irregular peripheries characteristic of the depressions in the chill roll of Fig. 3 are substantially eliminated by such extreme polishing. The roller of Fig. 6 has randomly distributed depressions with an average depth of about 5 microns, a standard deviation of the depth of the depressions of less than 3 microns, and an average area less than 16,000 square microns. The chill roller of Fig. 6 may be formed by polishing the surface of a roller such as that shown in Fig. 3 to reduce the average depth of the depressions in the surface to one half or less of the depth of the depressions before polishing. The average frequency of depressions over the surface of the roller is approximately 3000 per square centimeter. As seen in Fig. 6, the depressions are substantially convex in shape and substantially free of the irregularities about the perimeter of the depressions that are observed in Fig. 3. Photomicrographs of a polyethylene sheet formed using the chill roller of Fig. 6 as the roller 17 are shown in Fig. 7 (50X) and Fig. 8 (150X). It is readily seen that the prominences formed on the surface of the sheet are substantially convex and are regular around their peripheries with relatively few jutting, jagged portions extending away from the prominences. A multilayer sheet having a low density polyethylene outer layer 13 formed in such a manner was found to have a coefficient of friction, as tested face-to-face on a Kayeness Friction Tester, in the range of 0.1 to 1.0, over a selection of several samples formed in accordance with the invention. The gloss was found to be in the range of 60 to 70 units, at a TAPPI 20 o angle. The heights of the prominences, which correspond to the depths of the depressions on the chill roll, lie almost entirely in the range of 2 to 10 microns, with a standard deviation of less than 3 microns (generally ranging from 2 to 3 microns), about the average prominence height of 5 microns. The area occupied by individual prominences averages less than 16,000 square microns. A multilayer laminate suitable for use as a tube container wall was produced in accordance with the process shown in Fig. 1. The layer 13 was formed of a coextrusion of low density polyethylene resins and was adhered to a white pigmented polyethylene layer having ink printing on its top surface. The layer 13 was transparent and had a caliper of approximately 1.5 mils (38.1 microns). The outer surface of the laminate had a face-to-face coefficient of friction of less than 1.0 and a gloss at a TAPPI 20 o angle of approximately 60. The printing covered by the layer appeared clear and sharply defined.

Claims: A method of producing a plastics sheet having a surface with both high gloss and low coefficient of friction characteristics, wherein a thermoplastic material is extruded to form a heated thermoplastic layer and the said layer is pressed, while still in a softened state, with a chill roll which is maintained at a temperature at which it will cool and harden the surface of the layer contacted thereby, the chill roll having a grit-blasted, polished surface which has minute irregularly shaped depressions distributed thereover, the depressions having depths of 1 to 30 microns, an average depth of 12 microns with a standard deviation of the depth or 6.25 microns and the frequency of the depressions over the surface of the roll being in excess of 3,500 per square centimeter, characterised in that the grit-blasted and polished surface has been polished down to such an extent than the randomly-distributed irregularly shaped depressions are substantially convex and rounded about the peripheries thereof on said surface and their average depths are reduced to about 5 microns with a standard deviation of the depth of less than 3 microns, there being an average frequency of depressions over the surface of the roll of approximately 3,000 per square centimeter and the average area of each depression being less than 16,000 square microns. The method according to claim 1, further characterised by the additional steps of forming a base layer of at least one selected material, and placing the surface of the thermoplastic layer opposite to that which contacts the chill roller in contact with the base layer and applying pressure to all or the layers to form a laminate. The method according to claim 2, further characterised by shaping the laminate (21) between a forming mandrel (23) and forming die (24) by moving the laminate longitudinally and folding it into a tubular shape about the mandrel with the said thermoplastic layer (13) on the outside of the tubular shape in sliding contact with the die and with the longitudinal edges of the laminate overlapped, and heat sealing the overlapped longitudinal edges of the laminate together to form a closed, side-seamed tube. A method of producing a plastics sheet having a surface with both high gloss and low coefficient of friction characteristics, wherein a thermoplastic material is extruded to form a heated thermoplastic layer and the said layer is pressed, while still in a softened state, with a chill roll which is maintained at a temperature at which it will cool and harden the surface of the layer contacted thereby, the chill roll having a grit-blasted, polished surface which has minute irregularly shaped depressions distributed thereover, characterised in that for providing prominences in the plastics sheet having irregular shapes with substantlally convex rounded peripheries, the depressions are substantially convex and rounded about the peripheries thereof on the surface of the roll, and their average depths are about 5 microns with a standard deviation of the depth of less than 3 microns, there being an average frequency of depressions over the surface of the roll of approximately 3,000 per square centimeter and the average area of each depression being less than 16,000 square microns. A chill roll for use in practising the method of claim 1, 2, 3 or 4, which roll is grit-blasted forming randomly-distributed, irregularly shaped depressions in the surface thereof and chromium plated, the surface of the roll having depressions whose depths range from 1 to 30 microns, an average depth of 12 microns and a standard deviation of the depth of 6.25 microns and the frequency of the depressions over the surface of the roll being in excess of 3,000 per square centimeter, characterised in that the plated surface is polished to such an extent that the peripheries on the said surface of the irregularly shaped depressions are rendered substantially convex and rounded and the average area thereof is reduced to about 5 microns with a standard deviation of the depth of less than 3 microns, the average frequency of depressions over the roll surface being approximately 3,000 per square centimeter, and the average area of each depression being less than 16,000 square microns. A plastics sheet having a surface of high gloss and low coefficient of friction, the surface being comprised of a layer of thermoplastic material with a smooth surface interrupted by randomly-distributed prominences, characterised in that the prominences have an average height of about 5 microns with a standard deviation of the height of the prominences about the average of less than 3 microns, an average frequency of the prominences over the surface of the sheet of approximately 3,000 per square centimeter and an average area of each prominences of less than 16,000 square microns, the prominences having irregular shapes with substantially convex and rounded peripheries on the said surface such as are obtainable by subjecting a thermoplastic layer to the method according to any of claims 1 to 4. The plastic sheet according to claim 6, characterised in that the thermoplastic material is polyethylene and that the surface of the sheet has a face-to-face coefficient of friction of 1.0 or less and has a gloss, TAPPI 20° angle from 60 to 70 units. The plastics sheet according to claim 6 or claim 7, characterised in that the thermoplastic surface is the outer overcoat surface of a printed and/or decorated substrate, the thermoplastic surface being transparent. A container having a layer as or near the outermost layer comprising a thermoplastics material having a smooth surface interrupted by randomly-distributed prominences, characterised in that the prominences have an average height of about 5 microns with a standard deviation of the height of the prominences about the average of less than 3 microns, an average frequency of the prominences over the surface of approximately 3,000 per square centimeter and the average area of each depression being less than 16,000 square microns, the prominences having irregular shapes with substantially convex and rounded peripheries on the said surface, such as are obtainable by subjecting a thermoplastics layer to the method according to any of claims 1 to 4. A container according to claim 9, wherein the plastics material is polyethylene and wherein the surface thereof has a face-to-face coefficient of friction of 1.0 or less and has a gloss, TAPPI 20° angle, from 60 to 70 units. A container according to claim 9 or claim 10, which is of tubular form wherein the said layer is a transparent overcoat on a printed and/or decorated substrate.

Inventors: O'SULLIVAN, EILEEN F.
Applicants: AMERICAN NATIONAL CAN COMPANY
Application year: 1983
Main classification: B32B27
IPC codes: B29B7, B65D65, B29C41, B29C59, B32B38, B29C47, B65D35, B29C53, B29C31, B05D1, B29L7