Silcolease™

​​The Challenge

Release coatings are used in nearly all industries and markets, including many applications in consumer goods and packaging, industrial manufacturing, construction, graphic arts, medical & hygiene products and cooking & baking applications. Easy to coat and quick to cure, they allow self-adhesive products, typically Pressure Sensitive Adhesives (PSA’s), but also many other tacky materials, to be used in their final applications by providing non-stick coatings on a broad range of substrates. These release-coating systems must be versatile enough for use on tiny surfaces, such as stamps or adhesive strips, and robust enough to be used on construction materials such as bitumen liners and roof tiles. Furthermore, as technology develops, they must have the right features for tamper-evident labels, holograms, smart labels (including RFID or radio-frequency identification systems) and other digital and smart applications.

Why us?

For over 30 years, Elkem Silicones has developed the Silcolease™ range of release coating solutions for non-stick, inert and heat resistant release liners for papers and film coatings. These products offer unique properties through silicone-based polymers and additives and our experts are available worldwide to help you choose the right solution for your needs.

By offering silicone release coatings in the widest range of formats, such as solvent-based, solventless and water-dilutable emulsion formulations, users can choose the system most appropriate for their specific coating equipment and substrate while taking into account energy, sustainability, regulatory and safety requirements. These fluid systems allow easy coating and excellent spreading performance and then are transformed into “dry” cured surfaces extremely rapidly via heat or UV light-curing processes.

Results 

Our comprehensive Silcolease™ product offering for release coatings, based on four distinct technologies, can be customized to meet your specific needs:

  • Silcolease™ Solventless Thermal range, the most commonly used release system and the dominant technology in the label industry. Benefits include:
    • Excellent anchorage
    • Smooth and even coverage at very low coating weights
    • Easy slow-speed release
    • Used by customers who have an offset gravure, 5 Roll or Flexo coating method and use a thermal curing method
    • Customers who use Solventless Silicone have also fewer regulatory and safety concerns, no drying requirements and low VOC. It is also used a lot for indirect food contact application
  • Silcolease™ Emulsion range, offers unique benefits for paper machine applications and is the system of choice for food release. Benefits include:
    • Easy and safe formulation and processing
    • Excellent wetting, water resistance, coverage, release and low foaming
    • Ideal for coating open porous papers and PET films in line
    • Premium solution for on-paper machine coating
    • Used by customers who have a direct/reverse gravure or metering rod coating method and use a thermal curing method
  • Silcolease™ UV Solventless Radiation range, offers flexibility to coat film and other heat sensitive substrates, including liner-less labels, when thermal curing systems cannot be used. Benefits include:
    • Low energy consumption and Increased recyclability
    • Reduced space requirements. Smaller machine footprint and easy to retrofitIdeal for over-coating printed surfaces and linerless labels
    • Used by customers who have an offset gravure, 5 Roll or Flexo coating method and use a UV or EB curing method
    • Customers who use Radiation Cured Silicone have a ready-to-use product
  • Silcolease™ Solvent-Based Thermal range is used in specialty applications such as high clarity filmic liners, ultra-low release force liners and on premium products in electronics and for "clear on clear" labels. Benefits include:
    • Lower energy costs
    • Ease and speed of processing and excellent anchorage
    • Low viscosity and excellent wetting properties for optimal coverage
    • Used by customers who have a direct/reverse gravure or metering rod coating method and use a thermal curing method
    • It requires less initial investment and existing equipment can be used
    • The solvent solution has an excellent coverage and is used for most premium release

Discover Our Release Coating Silicone Solutions with Silcolease™