What is encapsulation with regards to lamination?

[tngcas]

I've been researching different kinds of laminating film for digital printing and I keep coming across this word and no definition for it anywhere.
Could someone help me feel less stupid and define this word for me in this context?

Thanks!

 

[pippip]

Encapsulation is where you have a lip, 3-5mm, arounds the sides where the front and back laminate meets. Effectively sealing the laminated sheet within a pouch.

We use a cheap pouch laminator to do it. You can badly do it with a double sided roll laminator. Not sure how it would be achieved with a single sided laminator

 

[tngcas]

Ah. That makes sense! We use a pouch laminator for this too. Previous management was using a double-sided roll laminator and then hand trimming each sheet but that was time consuming and when I did the math more expensive per sheet.

 

[Ynot_UK]

Encapsulation pouch film is typically much thicker than roll laminating film and cannot be torn. Essentially they are two different processes for two different purposes. Encapsulation is typically used for protection, whereas lamination is for enhancement.

 

[Ynot_UK]

One other thing worth mentioning, which we found from experience many moons ago - if you are doing hours of continuous pouch encapsulation, you'll want something more than the cheap, plastic cased machines you see advertised all over the internet. Without accurate temperature regulation across the roller, the output will be very variable (cold spots, ripples, etc.). If you're giving a customer say 500 encapsulated sheets, they need to stack & pack perfect, which won't be achieved with a home/prosumer machine (unless you spend days on the job, with lots of wastage).

We have a pair of GBC 4500 A2 pouch encapsulators. Using them simultaneously makes light of volumes, the width means you can feed A4 pouches 2-up, A6 pouches 4-up, etc. You quickly learn the optimum speed & temperatures for the best quality output, thicker pouches run at a combination of lower speed and higher temperatures.

 

[davarino]

Encapsulation is where you have a lip, 3-5mm, arounds the sides where the front and back laminate meets. Effectively sealing the laminated sheet within a pouch.

We use a cheap pouch laminator to do it. You can badly do it with a double sided roll laminator. Not sure how it would be achieved with a single sided laminator

Another phrase used for "encapsulated" is "edge sealed".