12 Micron PET Film

Protective Film China Company is a manufacturer of 12 micron pet film for flexible packaging converters, coating lines, metallizing plants, printing operations, release coating, and thin electrical insulation uses. This thin PET base film is a lightweight 12um BOPET film with approx. 16.8 g/m2 basis weight. It is made for stable web handling, smooth roll appearance, controlled shrinkage, and consistent thickness during secondary converting.

Product Overview

12 micron pet film is a thin polyester carrier film used before the final packaging, coating, or laminating structure is made. With a typical yield of approx. 59.5 m2/kg, it helps reduce material weight while keeping useful strength for dry lamination, extrusion lamination, printed film layers, and metallized barrier structures. It can also work as a coating base film before silicone release coating, acrylic coating, adhesive coating, or other functional coatings.

For this gauge, clear appearance alone is not enough. A 12um web reacts quickly to changes in unwinding tension, oven temperature, rewind pressure, guide roller alignment, and slit edge condition. A roll may look fine during slow checking, but show edge waviness, light tension marks, tracking movement, or fine wrinkles after it enters a coating head, printing press, vacuum chamber, or lamination nip.

From a factory production view, we check thickness consistency, surface cleanliness, roll edge condition, winding hardness, and dimensional stability before shipment. Typical production control keeps thickness tolerance around +/- 5%, while heat shrinkage is commonly checked at 150 C / 30 min. For 12um material, even roll hardness is important because tight spots can affect coating weight, metallizing brightness, print registration, and adhesive laydown.

Benefits

• Stable 12um gauge: Keeps low material weight while maintaining useful strength for converting lines.
• Smoother web running: Helps reduce wrinkles, edge movement, tracking deviation, and tension marks.
• Controlled thickness profile: Supports more even adhesive laydown, silicone coating, coating weight, and aluminum deposition.
• Better heat stability: MD <= 2.0% and TD <= 1.0% shrinkage at 150 C / 30 min helps reduce heat distortion.
• Clean slit edge: Reduces edge dust, web breaks, and contamination near coating heads, guide rollers, and rewind sections.
• Process-matched surface: Plain, treated, or coating-ready options can be selected for ink, adhesive, metal layer, or silicone coating systems.

How does 12 micron pet film perform during high-speed converting?

12 micron pet film is thin enough for lightweight packaging structures, but it needs steady tension from unwinding to rewinding. Compared with thicker PET film, this gauge reacts faster to heat-zone stretch, poor roll hardness balance, uneven nip pressure, and loose edge winding. A well-made roll should keep a flat web path and clean slit edge, so it can pass through drying ovens, vacuum metallizing chambers, adhesive coating heads, and laminating nips with fewer line stops. For new structures, testing at the actual line speed is useful because the same 12um thickness may behave differently under different oven temperatures, coating weights, COF settings, and rewind tension.

TDS

Applications

1. Flexible packaging film: Used in dry lamination, extrusion lamination, and printed packaging structures where low thickness and web stability matter.
2. Metallizing base film: Suitable for vacuum aluminum deposition when flatness, heat stability, cleanliness, and roll tension are controlled.
3. Coating base film: Used before silicone, acrylic, adhesive, or functional coating where coating anchorage and drying-zone shrinkage must be considered.
4. Printing substrate: Supports gravure, flexo, and other printing processes when the correct surface option and tension setting are selected.
5. Release liner base: Works as a thin polyester carrier before silicone release coating, where dimensional stability is important.
6. Electrical insulation layer: Suitable for selected thin insulation uses where stable 12um thickness and clean film surface are required.

What should be checked before using 12 micron pet film as a coating or metallizing base?

Before 12 micron pet film enters a coating, printing, release coating, or metallizing process, the roll should be checked for flatness, thickness tolerance, surface cleanliness, heat shrinkage, COF, and winding condition. TDS data can show 12um thickness, approx. 16.8 g/m2 basis weight, and controlled shrinkage, but the roll still needs practical checking on the actual machine. Small defects may become more visible after aluminum deposition, silicone coating, adhesive coating, or ink laydown. For vacuum metallizing, the film needs a smooth and stable surface to help keep metal brightness and barrier uniformity.

Production Line

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FAQ

Is 12 micron pet film the same as 12um BOPET film?

In most converting applications, it refers to 12um biaxially oriented polyester film, also called 12um BOPET film.

Can this film be used for metallizing?

Yes. It can be used as a metallizing base film when surface condition, flatness, cleanliness, heat shrinkage, and winding quality match the process.

Is corona treatment the main feature of this product?

No. Surface treatment can be supplied when needed, but the main value is thin gauge stability, roll flatness, and controlled shrinkage.

What should be confirmed before bulk production?

Thickness tolerance, roll width, surface option, COF, heat shrinkage, core size, winding quality, trial line speed, and final converting process should be confirmed.