Welding of multilayers polymers films using a rotary cylinder tool
By Queen Tannous (Université de Nantes + Delta International Corporation), Guillaume Racineux (Ecole Centrale de Nantes), Yves Béreaux (Université de Nantes), Pierre Mousseau (Université de Nantes), Anais Barasinski (Ecole Centrale de Nantes), Clément Fourmaux (Delta International Corporation)

The study focusses on an industrial process dedicated to the welding of multilayer polymer films (PET, Aluminium ,PE), for food packaging applications. The welding is obtained by applying a given pressure on the film pile up, using a moving rotary tool (shoulder without pin).
The heat generated by friction increases the temperature in the stacking resulting in the melting of the PE (PolyEthylene) layer at the shared interface, thus forming a welding joint.
The purpose of this paper is to study the evolution of temperature in the multilayer film and in the tool, according to process parameters: rotation speed, displacement speed and value of the normal pressure.