Study on the adhesion of different types of lacquers used in food packaging

The rapid determination of the durability and quality of a coating used to protect against corrosion is a practical problem that in the specific case canned food packaging, both canmaker and the food industry must consider carefully. In this work we discuss three methods for evaluating the adhesion of three types of lacquers (stoving and UV curing) applied on different tinplate substrate. In detail, the methods used are: dry adhesion, wet adhesion and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) measurements. The last method allows the influence of both types of lacquers and tinplate supports to be evaluated when coming in contact with model solutions of foodstuff. Adhesion was studied before and after sterilisation treatment. The results show that the best protection is given by epoxyphenolic and organosol lacquers. (C) 2003 Published by Elsevier Science B.V.