Choosing a tube sealing technique is just as critical as selecting the ideal tube. The tube filling machine‘s sealing choices for plastic, laminate, and metal tubes may seem complex initially, but understanding each technique offered will make the decision much simpler. Making the right decision for sealing a tube is vital. Seal strength and the tube’s overall aesthetics benefit from this.
Hot Air Sealing
This method has quickly become the most popular way to seal plastic and laminate tubes because of how quickly the process is and how many different tubes can be sealed. When you seal with hot air, you get a professional seal that is great for showing off your products. To make this seal, apply hot air into the end of the plastic or laminate tube that doesn’t have a cap. Hot air warms the inside of the plastic tube just enough to make it bendable. After that, the tube moves to the closure station, where a set of chilled sealing jaws with cold water are used to crimp it shut. The main problem with hot air sealing is that more parts need changing. Those parts will differ for each size of tube used in the filling process.
High-Frequency Sealing
How a microwave oven cooks, food is similar to how high-frequency sealing works. Between two electrodes, the aluminum layer produces an eddy current. Between the two electrodes, the material for the seal is heated up. Pressure is put on the seal as the temperature increases to the melting point to ensure it stays tight. Sealing with high frequency takes more time and doesn’t look as good as sealing with hot air. High-frequency sealing only applies on tubes that are aluminum laminate.
Ultrasonic Sealing
The high-frequency vibration of an ultrasonic sealing horn is used to seal plastic and laminate tubes using the ultrasonic sealing method. The vibration causes the plastic tube near the seal to grow heated and melt. When the tube squeezes between the sealing horn and anvil, the end maintains until forming the seal and the tube cools. Ultrasonic tube sealing is slower than hot air or HF sealing, but it requires fewer replacement components and can seal in the presence of product contamination in the seal zone. Compared to hot air sealing, the finished result of an ultrasonic seal lacks gloss.
Hot Jaw Sealing
Sealing tubes using hot jaws involves using crimping jaws to apply heat and pressure to the tube’s outside. One method is applying heat from the exterior of the tube to the inner tube walls. Then crimping jaws to apply pressure to close the tube. Hot Jaw sealing takes more time to produce the tube seal and is less efficient than other methods. Also, a hot jaw seal leaves a tube looking unprofessional.
Metal Sealing
A sequence of crimping stations is necessary for sealing metal tubes because they flatten and fold the metal tube’s end. The last step in closing the tube is pressing it. Metal tubes are sealable in various ways, including single, double, triple, or saddle folds. Different metal tube folding methods provide varied tube seal strengths depending on the customer’s request or the product’s viscosity. When ordering tubes from the tube provider, evaluate the range of tube sizes needed to execute the intended tube folding operation.
These methods of sealing are likely to fulfill all of your requirements, regardless of whether you go with semi-automatic or fully automatic tube fillers.