New closure technology is the shape of things to come...

A ground breaking piece of technology transfer has given Guala Closures the potential to make aluminium closures in virtually any unique shape and landed the company an Alufoil Trophy 2018 for Technical Innovation.

The Imagic uses Electro Magnetic Forming (EMF), first developed for military use, to create almost any shape a
designer could wish for – including round, pyramidal and precisely decorated – to very high quality.

The effect is achieved by placing an aluminium shell over a plastic ‘skeleton’ or mould. Using EMF the shell takes the shape of the mould to create the shape required. The Alufoil Trophy jury, all industry specialists, agreed that this was a highly innovative technique.

“Clever and original complementary technologies have been used to bring a new dimension to the closure sector. The marketing possibilities for aluminium closures have just been greatly expanded. We believe this can have a strong impact among designers in the highly competitive drinks industry,” they explained.

With EMF technology a metal conductive workpiece is formed by high intensity pulsed magnetic fields, in just milliseconds. The force ‘shapes’ the aluminium shell so that it adheres perfectly to the inner skeleton. Extremely high-quality control is achieved, which is not possible with the traditional mechanical solutions currently available, Guala Closures claims.

Piero Cavigliasso, group innovation technology director at Guala Closures Group expressed his delight at receiving the award,

“We are very proud that such a new technology, used for the first time on aluminium closures, has been awarded by the well-known Alufoil Trophy. Our aim is to protect the freedom of design of the most creative agencies, to face the challenge of giving shape to their imagination. We believe EMF can bring an additional benefit in terms of anticounterfeiting: we invested years of development and the technology is not on the “shelf”, so it will not be easy for counterfeiters to imitate.”

The finished product is very resistant and so avoids dent problems, both during the production process and transportation. The closures combine the functionality of plastics with the aesthetics of aluminium, says the company.

The Alufoil Trophy is organised by the European Aluminium Foil Association. There are five categories – Consumer Convenience, Marketing + Design, Product Protection, Resource Efficiency and Technical Innovation. For the Alufoil Trophy 2018 there were ten winners.

High-resolution pictures can be downloaded and all winning entries can be viewed at www.trophy.alufoil.org