Milacron Holdings a step closer to commercialising revolutionary Klear Can

03-Nov-2015 - Last updated on 03-Nov-2015 at 11:41 GMT

Milacron Holding's Klear Can, which is an alternative to metal cans for fruits, vegetables, soups, meat, and beverages, has passed an important food safety test and is ready for market trials.

Before a new food or beverage container can be used commercially, it has to pass a universally accepted series of testing for potential leakage of its seam or container.

Klear Can’s double seamed lid process

Klear Can which uses the same filling, seaming and retorting machinery as metal cans, has undergone a Biotest, which is a comparative method of examining leakage rates of a container or its seals.

Tests have also been carried out in Belgium where the product has been filled with vegetables and consumer sampling projects with Klear Cans being filled with fruit presented to focus groups.

Steve Morris, VP and GM, Co-injection Systems, Milacron, said after conducting Biotests on the functionality of the Klear Can’s double seamed lid process, it has found the container is safely sealed.

“We are extremely pleased with the progress of our Klear Can product. It continues to make impressive strides towards market readiness with major end users now getting involved in marketing tests,” he said.

Double seaming is a metal forming process, which utilizes 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 which is lined with a flexible compound onto the flange material of the container and

The second operation roll irons out the resultant double seam formed between the end material and compound and the body material producing a hermetically sound seal.

Brand owners can demonstrate the quality of their product

The Klear Can enables manufacturers to produce/mold cans at the filling site (through the wall operations), it is cost competitive to the metal can, and allows brand owners to demonstrate the quality of the product to consumers.

The double seaming principle encompasses a wide range of parameters, which can influence the double seam performance and integrity. It is the most complex and critical factor in ensuring the seal between the can end, the can end compound and the body material withstand processing temperatures up to 121 degrees centigrade.

The seal must also withstand external factors related to the retorting process and handling without allowing a leakage path to form which could allow micro-organisms to enter or in the case of a beverage container, internal pressures to vent.

Milacron supplies co-injection systems to the plastics and packaging industries. Its Co-injection technology can be applied to production of PET blow molded containers, PP blow molded containers, thin wall containers and closures.