High Precision Thin Film Casting with Innovative Venturi Drying

Published: March 03, 2025

IPCO at the ICE Europe 2025 | Munich | Hall A5 Stand 1520

IPCO, a leading manufacturers of processing systems for composite and thin film materials, will use ICE 2025 to showcase the production benefits of continuous film casting and Venturi drying process. The company will also have details of its high precision steel belts, used in the digital printing industry to enable faster speeds.

IPCO has developed a continuous film casting system that dramatically improves the casting process, enabling the production of film products to exceptionally narrow tolerances. The quality of films produced using this process makes them ideally suited for use as separator membranes and ceramic tapes in energy storage applications.

High precision Venturi dryer

The three key components of the system are a precision slot die, a polished steel belt and the Venturi dryer. The slot die coater ensures uniform casting of the product onto a moving steel belt. The film is carried to the Venturi dryer, a technology unique to IPCO for this application and one that eliminates any risk of skin formation on the product.

Homogeneous drying delivers an end product of exceptionally high quality, with low stress and virtually no risk of fault and imperfections. Films can be produced in thicknesses from 10-300 µm, depending on the end application.

IPCO’s film casting systems are playing in leading role in the development of new materials and technologies driven by the rapid transition to electric vehicles. Among these are separators or membranes used in Li-ion batteries, fuel cells and solid state batteries. Other applications include films for solar cells and flexible displays.

Pilot plant for system assessment and product development

A film casting line with Venturi dryer module and a conventional impingement dryer section is available for customer trials at IPCO’s Productivity Center in Fellbach, Germany.  The unit, which also features a winding and unwinding unit, is capable of handling water or solvent-based casting solutions and enables casting in widths up to 500 mm.

Steel belts for high speed digital printing

Another application for IPCO’s steel belts is digital printing, where flatness, straightness, stability and ease of cleaning are all key requirements. These qualities make steel belts ideally suited to high speed, high precision printing. Typical applications include corrugated board and shelf-ready retail packaging.

Further details on the landing page: https://ipco.com/ice-europe/