Background of Laminate Products Development In today's society, new technology and new product development focuses on energy-economization, environmental protection and harmlessness rather than lowering the product cost. Such issues that were unimportant in old days are becoming very important issues to consider since it can threaten human life. In container industry, many research and development have been attempted to replace existing materials following the issues and in early 1990's, laminating PET bottle, harmless to men, was created. TCC STEEL has also concentrated on Laminate products since early 1990's and as a result of the effort, we achieved to produce the first laminate Pilot in Korea.   Characteristics 구 분 기존소재 LAMI 강판(2-Piece) LAMI 강판(3-Piece) Substrate Tin Plate, TFS, AL TFS Tin Plate Can 내면 Epoxy Phenolic Lacquer Clear PET 접착제+Clear PET Can 외면 Print Ink & Varnish White PET + Gravure Print Clear PET +접착제+ Gravure Print   Cross-Sectional view of existing materials and LAMI Steel Existing products vs. Laminate products Existing materials use epoxy phenol paints and ink, thermosetting resin, for coating but laminate products use PET film, harmless to men and long preservation effect. There are three kinds of laminate film, Mono Layer PET, 2-Layer PET, and Normal PET film. Mono Layer PET film is composed of one layer of film that has thermal adhesive property on certain temperature. 2-Layer PET film is composed of two films. One is the thermal adhesive property PET film for steel coating and another is Normal PET film for second coating. Normal PET film uses adhesives to coat steel. and then print on curved surface of can. To make 3-piece can, laminate gravure print and Clear PET and then manufacture can.   Features of Laminated Steel - Light weight by using high intensive steel plate - Excellent on preservation of taste and fragrance by blocking elution of organic matters - High covering feature on substrate makes no metal element elution - Elegant print by using White film - High corrosion resistance - Environmentally friendly - High intensity, high adherence, easy processing - Better working condition - Short process by printing on film   Laminate Technology Adhere PET film on both sides of the substrate with heat using laminate roll and go through quick cooling (for Mono Layer) or after-heating and then cool it down. Adherent side to steel (inside) becomes amorphous which have very tough adhesive strength and the other side (outside) remains original crystalline so that it can keep contents fresh. Controlling the ratio of crystal layer and non-crystal layer on film is the most kernel point because the proper ratio creates features of laminate steel. The ratio is affected by kinds of steel, temperature, line speed, kinds of film, temperature of laminate roll, etc. If the ratio is too high, preservation is high but the power of adherence is low and vice versa. Therefore, it requires advanced skill to control the ratio. End Usage - Beverage and beer cans - Cans for food and tuna - Cans for chemicals, oil, etc - Building and construction materials - Containers for long preservations