We are proud to announce that Metlux and LIST (Luxembourg Institute of Science and Technology) have signed a three-year collaboration agreement for the development project, Transperbar.
Our goal is to create new possibilities providing any given substrate with perfect transparency and extremely high permeation barrier in conjunction with additional surface enhancement for specialised industrial applications.
We shall also focus on improving the preservation properties of transparent food packaging using a new technology with a light-transparent and gas-impermeable coating.
The food and drinks packaging markets are increasingly looking for flexible and transparent packaging that maintains in particular the preservation properties, hygienic conditions, and flavours of its contents. Consumers have a preference for this type of packaging that allows them to see what they are buying and manufacturers tend to adapt to this trend.
The transparent and flexible packaging has many limitations. Humidity and oxygen penetrating the interior of this packaging affect the shelf life of food, even, in some cases, have a negative impact on food.
Developing new solutions for transparent and flexible packaging while limiting the penetration of these two species underpins the research being carried out concurrently by the LIST and MET-LUX teams.
Both have solid experience in the field of polymer foil metallisation for packaging. They are thus joining forces to develop a coating technique enabling transparent flexible polymer films with the same preservation features as aluminium opaque packaging.
Pooling of skills
While MET-LUX provides metal coatings on polymer foil for applications in packaging, LIST researchers from LIST specialising in transparent and optically-tunable electronics have, in other research, been able to identify solutions and develop low-temperature coating techniques that are compatible with polymer films.
LIST researchers are able to bring this experience and knowledge in the design and deposition of low-temperature thin film to MET-LUX.
Collaboration with LIST could therefore allow the sector to expand its product range and be at the forefront of market needs. The innovative coating technique that the partners hope to develop could thus be applied by MET-LUX, at the end of the project, to its production lines, bringing added value to its existing products and offering competitive benefits to some of its future products.
Better yet, by paving the way for new applications such as flexible electronics, some of the explored approaches could help MET-LUX to rank among the major players in this sector over the next decade.