Clear cans coming


Monday, 18 January, 2016

Clear cans coming

The Milacron Klear Can is an alternative to metal cans for fruits, vegetables, soups, meats and other products. The Klear Can uses the same filling, seaming and retorting machinery as metal cans so minimal downstream investment is required. The Klear Can enables manufacturers to produce/mould cans at the filling site (through the wall operations), be cost competitive to the metal can and allow brand owners to demonstrate quality of the product to consumers.

Before a new food or beverage container can be used commercially, the container has to pass a universally accepted series of testing for potential leakage of the double seam or the container structure. The normal test is a Biotest, which is a comparative method of examining leakage rates of a container or its seals.

Double seaming is a metal-forming process that utilises a seaming chuck, which fits the end being sealed onto the container. There are two steps to this process:

  • A first operation seaming roll, which rolls the end curl material that is lined with a flexible compound onto the flange material of the container; and,
  • A second operation roll that irons out the resultant double seam formed between the end material and compound and the body material producing a hermetically sound seal.

Although the double-seaming principle appears simple, it encompasses a wide range of parameters, which can influence the double seam performance and integrity. The double seam is the most complex and critical factor in ensuring that the seal between the can end, the can end compound and the body material will withstand processing temperatures up to 121°C. The seal must also withstand external factors related to the retorting process and handling without allowing a leakage path to form that could allow microorganisms to enter, or in the case of a beverage container, internal pressures to vent.

After conducting rigorous biotests on the functionality of the Klear Can’s easy-open, double-seamed lid process, it has been concluded that this container is suitably and safely sealed. This shows the Klear Can’s innovativeness as this process is conducted on a standard metal can seaming line with the only change being rollers on a standard seaming chuck. Klear Can field testing continues in Belgium where the cans have been filled with vegetables in an isolated environment and are ready for market trials.  Consumer sampling tests have also been conducted with Klear Cans being filled with fruit and were presented within market surveys and to focus groups. To date, consumers are giving the ‘thumbs-up’ to the can’s appeal and attractiveness.

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