Improvement of Package Properties with Formed Functional Surface Features

Paperboard package properties can be improved by embossing functional features on package surfaces. Embossing is used in package manufacturing as an additional tool to improve the appearance of the packages. It can also be used to increase product safety by improving functionality and identifiability of packages. Creation of features directly on the base material without implementing additional components improves the sustainability level of package applications. To evaluate functionality of features, such as protective surface patterns, in the applicable practice, the following steps need to be gone through; design phase, tool manufacturing phase, pattern production phase and analysis phase. Bespoken toolsets were designed and manufactured to form a protective frame around commercial radio-frequency identification tag (RFID). The essential process parameters in the embossing experiments were the pressing force and the plate temperature which were optimized in preliminary tests. Methods for evaluating the performance of created embossed patterns were wear testing of package surfaces, topography measurement with a 3D profilometer and SEM-imaging for more detailed analysis. The results show that embossing is a suitable manufacturing method for creating targeted functional features on paperboard surfaces. With the formed surface features, the functionality of the packages was improved by protecting the identification labels.