Roctool wants to entice the beauty industry with its “high definition plastic” technology

By acting on the temperature of the moulds and tools, Roctool makes it possible to produce plastic parts with unrivalled surface qualities. The high quality level makes it possible to skip the follow-up procedures such as decoration and painting that have an unfavourable carbon footprint. According to Roctool, and depending on the plastic resins used, the technology can thus meet current demands to reduce carbon dioxide emissions and the environmental footprint, especially given that, it can also be used to create ultra-thin parts, shiny, matte and textured surfaces.

“Our technology allows no compromise between luxury and sustainability. Today, the two must go hand in hand. As such, we are pushing our research in several areas: with designers from around the world, suppliers of innovative materials, and of course with our customers, whose expectations we share,” says Mathieu Boulanger, CEO of Roctool.

“High definition plastic”

Based on an ultra-fast induction heating process, the patented technology is not new but, until then, the beauty industry had not been a priority of the French company which had granted an operating license to PVL Beauté.

Roctool’s technology allows to replicate the surface of the mould directly on the injected part. According to the French company, it is suitable for most plastic resins, and offers ultra-premium surface qualities.

For example, a PCR ABS resin moulded with Roctool technology offers a gloss unit (GU) of 85 and texture replication of 98%, compared to a GU of 53 and a 45% replication rate with conventional moulding.

Roctool Beauty Solutions is therefore suitable for all types of make-up, skincare and fragrance packaging solutions (bottles, flexible and rigid tubes, jars and all types of lids and caps). Depending on the esthetical or functional purpose of the part, using Roctool’s induction heating technology to control temperature in the mould allows the creation of ultra-thin parts, shiny, matt and textured surfaces (as well as the removal of defects like injection points, weld lines and all other material-flow lines).

In order to better meet the expectations of its customers, the company currently collaborates with several suppliers of plastic resins and with injection specialists to acquire the required data to reach an optimal quality.