Converting Services

Converting services cut, join, finish, package and assemble units of material into more usable shapes and sizes. For example, converting services that work with textile manufacturers cut large rolls of fabric into smaller webs or individual sheets. Converting services handle a variety of materials, ranging from ceramics and glass to laminates and composites. Some companies specialize in working with foam and porous materials, while others handle metal, paper and paperboard, rubber and elastomer, stone and masonry, or wood and natural fibers. Converting services are located throughout the world and vary in terms of capabilities. Selecting converting services requires an analysis of several factors, including the range of widths, thicknesses, and outer diameters that are needed.  

Coating, heat sealing, and laminating are processes that converting services perform to join materials together. Coating applies a thin, protective layer of material or film. Heat sealing joins two or more thermoplastic films or sheets by heating areas in contact with each other to the temperature at which fusion occurs, usually aided by pressure. Laminating uses pressure-sensitive adhesive products to join two or more layers of foam, film, paper, or foil. To cut materials, converting services use processes that include water jets, pressure, hot wires, and lasers. Die cutting produces loose pieces, cut to a variety of shapes and sizes, using steel rule and rotary dies. Sheeting reduces stock size from continuous rolls to individual sheets. For materials with both adhesive and non-adhesive backings, slitting to width is also available.  

Converting services perform a variety of finishing, packaging, and assembly processes. General finishing processes include calendering, polishing, grinding, and sizing. Edge conditioning includes cambering, an edge curving process; skiving, an edge filtering process; and trimming. Spooling transfers long lengths of material to a spool and rewinding rolls them off a winder. Flattening levels material through a unit that houses a series of small-diameter rolls. General assembly services transform components into finished products, while packaging companies may also offer printing and labeling. Printing methods include flexographic, impact, and non-impact. 

There are a variety of applications for converting services. Some companies specialize in cutting adhesives, building materials, coated abrasives, or textiles. Others work with shielding, gaskets, enclosures or other products that block out electromagnetic or radio frequency interference (EMI / RFI). Converting services also process masks and masking, rope and cable, wire and filament, wire cloth and screen, and both electrical and thermal insulation. Companies that produce stock shapes provide bars, plates, tubes, and pipes.

• Glossary of Tems for Technical Foams
• Anatomy of a Label
• How to Draw a Label

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