What is it that prints and converts like paper, yet holds up like plastic? Doesn't hurt a container's recyclability? Is clean enough for toys and pharma clean rooms? Takes the heat of hot-filling? As many label converters already know, it's synthetic paper. More popular than ever, it was on display in several booths at last month's Labelexpo Americas show in Rosemont, IL.

Although synthetic paper has been around for years, one of its largest applications in terms of percentage is one that doesn't get much publicity: tags and labels for military parts, machines and others materials shipped around the world.

The durability and print quality of synthetics means that identification labels on military materiel stored out in the weather or splashed with dirt and grease will still be readable. Yet, understandably, converters who work under contract to the U.S. government are reluctant to say how much they sell, to which branches of the military, where it gets shipped, and what are the customer criteria for the tags and labels. Still, it's clearly lucrative and important work.

Another huge market for synthetic-paper suppliers comprises in-mold labels for rigid blow-molded containers. In this manufacturing process—a closely-shrouded one that usually takes place within the packager's own plant—synthetic paper labels become an integral part of the container's plastic sidewall: the ultimate label, if you will.

For this application, the main advantage of the synthetic paper decoration is that it is nonporous and possesses the same chemical characteristics as the polypropylene and HDPE bottles it decorates. Thus it doesn't interfere with the bottle's 100 percent recyclability.

Yupo Corp. (www.yupo.com) announced new capacity improvements at Labelexpo Americas. Already the largest manufacturer of synthetic paper in the western hemisphere, Yupo says it has made significant capital investments to improve the efficiency of its production line. These improvements will result in up to a 20 percent increase in production ouput, according to the company.

The increased output will allow Yupo to ensure reliable supply and provide flexibility to its customers in the in-mold labeling (IML), standard labeling, commercial printing and graphic-design markets, according to the announcement.

New grades of synthetics are introduced by most of the leaders in the field each year. Among those introduced within the past year is a direct-thermal printable substrate, Valeron DT (www.valeron.com) for high-strength tag and label applications.

This product allows converters to eliminate the lamination step for applications like airline baggage and ski-lift tags, freight tags, and hunting and fishing licenses.

The direct thermal topcoat on Valeron DT is heat-sensitive and generages images as it passes the printhead, so that no thermal-transfer ribbon is needed. It's also fully flexo printable for full-color labels and tags. Synthetic paper tags in full color are becoming increasingly popular in greenhouses and nurseries, where their durability is prized almost as much as the flowers and plants they adorn. The labels resist the elements and at the same time provide an attractive way to pass along information from the grower to consumers on plants, shrubs and trees.

Yupo's recently introduced UV printable grade, FPR 200, is engineered for UV hybrid, offset and flexo printing applications.

Increasingly popular UV printing can be accomplished by converters on this synthetic paper grade in one step, without the need to first apply a primer coating—thus improving efficiency and reducing expense.

UV printing applications using this grade are reportedly extremely durable, with no marking or streaking to worry about.

A new, more rigid grade of synthetic paper introduced by Arjobex (www.arjobex.com) measures out at 13.5 pt. and is intended for applications where its extra rigidity is needed: heavy-duty tags and point-of-sale displays, among other commercial printing applications.