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In recent years, the flexible packaging industry has developed rapidly. The market demand for adhesive labels, custom labels, packaging labels and other products is extremely high, providing excellent growth opportunities for label manufacturers. So, how can label producers improve market competitiveness and expand brand value? The lamination process may offer a solution. This article will analyze four aspects: why labels need lamination, best films for lamination, label lamination machines, and lamination problems and solutions.

(Click to Explore Flexo Printing for Wrapping Paper Prior to Lamination)

Juice & Soft Drink Labels

Why Labels Need Lamination

Label lamination refers to adding a layer of plastic film to the surface of label products. Whether for label manufacturers or consumers, by carefully observing food labels, beverage labels, bottle labels and other label types, it is easy to find that some labels are laminated while others are not. So, what benefits can lamination bring to labels?

Flexo Printing Machine for Food Packaging Labels

First, the laminated film can effectively protect the surface of the product, preventing water bottle labels, juice bottle labels, wine labels and other labels from scratches, abrasion, or contamination.

Second, it increases gloss, improving the appearance and texture of cosmetic labels, lotion bottle labels, beauty product labels and similar products.

Third, laminated labels gain a certain level of water resistance and moisture resistance, making them suitable for humid environments, such as sauce bottle labels, skincare labels, shampoo labels and others.

Fourth, lamination enhances the hardness of label products, giving beer labels, coffee labels, tea labels and similar labels better wear resistance.

Label Printing Machine for Durable Labels

Best Films for Lamination

Whether labels need lamination and which film to use are both highly important.

Whether Lamination Is Required

Non-laminated labels are convenient for secondary printing or handwriting, such as pressure sensitive labels, blank labels, roll labels and other products that require batch numbers or date printing. Non-laminated products are relatively softer in texture, making them suitable for application on small-diameter bottles or curved surfaces, such as pharmaceutical labels, medicine labels, supplement labels and similar products, and are less likely to have edge lifting issues.

Durable Labels

Types of Lamination

The most common types of label lamination are glossy lamination and matte lamination. Labels with glossy lamination have a shiny and reflective surface, making them more eye-catching, such as perfume bottle labels, jewelry labels and similar products. Labels with matte lamination have a non-reflective surface and a more understated appearance, such as vitamin bottle labels, healthcare labels and others. Using different lamination processes will result in slight differences in surface color and gloss.

Flexographic Printing Press for Aluminum Foil Packaging

Label Lamination Machines

Based on the process, the most common laminating machines on the market are dry laminator, solventless laminator, extrusion laminator, and wet laminator.

Dry Laminator

Dry lamination machines use solvent-based adhesives (or water-based adhesives) and perform lamination after oven drying. The dry lamination process is mature and widely suitable for various materials. Dry lamination machines are widely favored by manufacturers of snack packaging bags, chips packaging bags, blister packaging foil and other flexible packaging, food packaging, and pharmaceutical packaging products.

Dry Laminator for Coffee Packaging

Solventless Laminator

A solventless laminator uses solvent-free adhesives and does not require drying, featuring low energy consumption and strong environmental benefits. Solventless laminators are currently the fastest-growing type of lamination equipment. They are widely used in gourmet chips packaging, nuts & dried fruit pouches, export seafood packaging and other high-end food packaging and export packaging applications.

Solventless Laminator for Frozen Food Packaging

Extrusion Laminator

Extrusion laminators use molten plastic (pe, pp) for direct lamination, making them highly suitable for fast food paper boxes, fresh milk cartons, liquid food packaging and other paper-plastic composite, milk carton, and aseptic packaging applications.

Extrusion Laminator for Aseptic Carton Packaging

Wet Laminator

Wet lamination machines laminate substrates directly before the adhesive is dried, and are commonly used for paper and aluminum foil materials.

Wet Laminator for Blister Packaging Foil

Lamination Problems and Solutions

The most common problems during lamination are delamination, wrinkling, and bubbles.

Delamination

Delamination manifests as easy peeling of finished products such as yogurt drink cartons, plant-based milk packaging, and functional drink packaging. This is mainly caused by mismatched adhesive selection (material incompatibility), insufficient or uneven coating, low surface tension (insufficient corona discharge), and insufficient curing time (especially in solvent-free composites). It can be improved by using adhesives that match the material structure (such as BOPP/PET-specific adhesives), controlling the corona discharge value ≥ 38 dyn, increasing the coating amount and ensuring uniformity, and extending the curing time (usually 24–48 hours).

High Speed Flexo Printing Machine for Food Labels

Wrinkling

Wrinkling manifests as wavy or wrinkled film surfaces, primarily caused by unstable tension control, asynchronous unwinding and winding, non-parallel guide rollers, or installation errors. It can be improved by using a closed-loop tension control system, optimizing tension matching in each section (unwinding/compositing/winding), correcting guide roller parallelism, and stabilizing production speed.

Bubbles

Bubbles, characterized by air bubbles, whitening, or a hazy appearance within the film layer, are mainly caused by air trapping, insufficient pressure or temperature, poor adhesive leveling, and high ambient humidity. They can be improved by increasing lamination pressure and temperature, optimizing adhesive flow and coating uniformity, controlling workshop humidity (≤60%), and improving venting (by optimizing pressure rollers).

High Precision Lamination Machine for Flexible Packaging

Lamination is a requirement for most label products. It also enhances the moisture resistance, abrasion resistance, and aesthetics of products such as QR code labels, shipping labels, waterproof labels, and shrink sleeve labels. By understanding the needs of labels, suitable laminating machines, common problems, and solutions, lamination can facilitate label production and improve brand benefits for businesses.