What Makes Mosca’s Innovative SoniXs® Sealing Ultrasonic Technology So Great?
A strapped package is only as secure as the seal that ties the overlapping strap ends together. In the early 1970s, when plastic strapping became a commercial packaging material, metal clips, a carryover from steel strapping, were the only option. Later in the decade, hot blade heat sealing was developed and became a faster-to-apply and more economical option. Next came friction welding which had the advantages of only requiring energy during the sealing cycle and having no smoke, which became a significant issue as polyester strapping gained popularity for palletizing and unitizing.
Ultrasonic welding, initially used for joining mating surfaces of thin films, was initially tried as a strap welding technology in the 1980s, but various technical issues caused it to be withdrawn. That is until Mosca introduced SoniXs in 2007. Determined to overcome the smoke and emissions issues as well as the constant power draw with heat seals, and the high maintenance requirements of both heat and friction systems, Mosca was able to overcome the difficulties of ultrasonic welding of the heavier, harder plastics involved in strapping.
Background on the Technology
Ultrasonic plastic welding uses a high-frequency vibration of 20-40,000 cycles per second to induce a vertical movement of about.000,025 meters, under controlled pressure, directed to the contacting surfaces of the items to be welded. This melts the opposing surfaces. Then applied pressure blends the surfaces, fusing them during a controlled cooling period. The power and time required to make the weld is a function of the thickness and hardness of the materials to be welded. Mosca’s innovation was to find an economical and reliable way to apply ultrasonics to weld the heavier PP and PET products used for strapping vs the thinner film products that are most commonly welded with this technology.
Watch the video to see how it works!
Product History
At first, the market was understandably hesitant to adopt the new technology. It was poorly understood and the existing sealing techniques were well accepted. For the first few years, SoniXs accounted for a small, albeit growing proportion of Mosca machine sales, for which heat seal and friction welding options were also offered.
And the earliest versions of SoniXs weren’t perfect. As field experience grew and the company collected data on performance, improvements were made in the metallurgy and manufacturing of key components, the electronics that control the ultrasonic energy application, and management of associated machine functions that can affect the execution of the sealing cycle. Today’s SoniXs has gone through 8 upgrades over the years and we are comfortable saying that we believe SoniXs to be the best plastic strap sealing system available.
What Makes SoniXs Great?
Mosca’s commitment to SoniXs and focus on constant improvement has led to a system that:
- Draws a small amount of power only during the sub-second sealing cycle
- Is smoke and emission-free
- Makes seals that are equal to or stronger than competitive sealing systems
- Includes a calibration sequence that precedes each cycle assuring proper operation of SoniXs components, adjacent machine parts, and strap positioning required to make a strong seal
- Is easily adjustable to optimize seals for the full range of PP and PET straps offered by Mosca companies
- Uses a simple vertical movement, minimizing mechanical components, motion, and related maintenance requirements
- Has a demonstrated life of many millions of cycles, with high-volume users seeing cycle lives of over 10 million cycles on original SoniXs components
- SoniXs leaves a unique impression on the seal, providing a security benefit to customers that strap high value, theft-prone products.
Learn More About The Benefits of SoniXs Technology
The Big Picture
SoniXs has been an incredibly successful innovation and has contributed to the success of the Mosca brand. But sealing is only one critical function of a strapping system. The combination of SoniXs and Mosca’s 6th generation Evolution series bundlers, with their modular construction, like parts across the entire series of bundlers, and the SoniXs unitizer strapping head have propelled Mosca strapping systems to the pinnacle of high-performance strapping and broader end-of-line strapping system supply, worldwide. SoniXs has evolved from a curiosity in its earliest days, to a best-in-class selling point for Mosca products today.
Want to know how our technologies can help improve your process? Contact us today!