Effect of Heater Form on Heat-sealed Parts of Plastic Film

Plastic bags are used for containing and transporting goods such as foods, produce, powders, ice, magazines, comic books, chemicals and waste. Most plastic bags are heat sealed together. However, sometimes, accident occur due to poor heat sealing for complicated parts such as gusset bags. It is very important to investigate heat sealing technique for complicated bags. In this research, we demonstrate the good heat sealing properties for gusset bags by using the braid heater with a small diameter wire of nickel chrome, and the braid was made by applying the braid technique which is a Japanese traditional handicraft. As a result, the surface of braid heater has no trace after heat sealing, and the mechanical properties indicated the high peel strength as compared to common metal heater. In addition, the braid heater makes it possible to perform the heat sealing at lower temperature as compared to common metal heater, because of the high adhesion between the heater surface and the surface of gusset bags. Therefore, it was found that the heat sealing properties were improved by using the braid heater for the complicated plastic packages such as gusset bags.