Serigrafia 76 innovates the "decal" sector
The ability to grasp changes in the production methods of its customers, and to transform the technical and market challenges into opportunities is the basis for the innovation that led Serigrafia 76 to overcome the problem of decal application to surfaces produced with rotational moulding
For forty years now, Serigrafia 76 has been on the cutting edge in the production of decals and decorations for tractors, farm and earthmoving machines, forklifts, cranes for trucks, tyre removers, and industrial vehicles and machinery, a sector in which it ranks at the top in Europe. Recently it found itself faced with the need to overcome the problems caused by the application of adhesive decorations on polyethylene components obtained by rotational moulding and surfaces subject to off-gassing. “For years now the production of graphics for the manufacturers of farming machinery and equipment - explains Elisa Mammi, sales manager - has been our core business, with nearly 60% of our turnover.” “In our business - adds Elisa Mammi - it became necessary to offer an adhesive material specific to applications on critical surfaces, such as those produced in polyethylene with rotational moulding (rotomoulding) or in any case subject to the release of gases.” Generally, rotomoulding technology is used in the field of agricultural machinery to produce tanks for sprayers (nebulizers and vaporizers). These tanks, after being created with the rotomoulding process, release gases for at least 7 - 10 days. For this reason, is not possible to apply the “traditional decals”: in contact with the released gas, they do not allow its dispersion, causing bubbles on the surface of the graphic, with poor aesthetics results and a complete detachment of the label in a matter of a few days, even in the case of products with specific and aggressive adhesive.
“The solution adopted up until now - explains Mammi - was to decorate through the application of special decals to be inserted directly inside the mould during the production of the tank. This kind of process, however, has some drawbacks: it is very delicate, risky, and expensive. If the special decal is positioned incorrectly inside the mould, if it has a small scratch, or if it undergoes defects before or after the application process, this entails the loss not only of the decal, but of the entire tank.
The solution identified by Serigrafia 76 is an adhesive PVC that can be applied directly on the tanks, even immediately after the rotomoulding phase. It is a traditional adhesive decoration, but made of a special PVC, called S76 Gas-Out. As the name clearly indicates, this PVC has the characteristic of being “breathable”, i.e. it allows the gas produced by the surface of the components to disperse without causing the detachment of the decal and without causing unsightly and dangerous bubbles for the duration of the decoration on the piece.
Before proposing this innovative material to the market of tank and sprayer manufacturers, we performed various resistance tests with the collaboration of a tank manufacturer, very present in the agricultural engineering market and supplier of major brands.
These tests were very successful, and confirmed the effectiveness of the product”.
