Difference Between Centerfold Shrink Wrap and Shrink Tubing!

Packaging heat shrink wrap is made of different materials and comes in 4 primary forms. Different packaging applications require different forms of shrink film. Each section below describes the differences of each form and machines they are often used with.

Centerfold Shrink Wrap – Centerfolded shrink wrap is folded in half lengthways and rolled onto a roll. A 10-inch-wide Centerfolded roll would unfold to a 20-inch width.

Centerfolded shrink wrap is used with lower output tabletop shrink machines and high-speed fully automatic machines. L bar sealers are made specifically for Centerfold shrink wrap. The two sealing sides on an L bar sealer fully enclose and seal the product within the Centerfold film.

Single Wound Shrink Wrap -Also referred to as lay-flat shrink wrap. The film comes off the roll flat. Most single wound shrink film produced is made from polyethylene and is used to bundle water and soda bottles. The film is only sealed on two sides, leaving round holes known as “bulls-eyes” on two ends of the package.

Single wound polyethylene rolls are often used with a shrink bundling machine. Shrink bundling machines use a single sealing bar and two rolls of film to seal the package. Here is a video from our vendor Heat Seal demonstrating a shrink bundling machine.

Shrink Tubing – Shrink tubing is a round tube available in different sizes and made to package a wide array of products. Long continuous rolls of shrink tubing are often used to wrap long cylindrical objects.

Shrink sleeves are pre-cut and sized tubes often made to go around a bottle or canister. Shrink sleeves are heavily used in food and beverage packaging.

Smaller pre-cut tubing sized for fitting bottle caps and lids is called shrink banding or neck banding. Shrink banding is an excellent way to ensure customers receive an untampered product.

Most shrink tubing is not sealed on the ends. Without the need for a sealer, a heat tunnel is the only machinery needed for shrinking.

Shrink Bags – Shrink bags have three enclosed sides and one open side. Accurate product sizing is important when using shrink bags. Companies wrapping multiple different product sizes may require multiple different shrink bag sizes.

The advantage of shrink bags is the need to only seal one open end. This enables users to use an I Bar sealer which has one sealing bar. Hand impulse sealers used with shrink bags are a great low-cost option for professional packaging on a budget.

Feel free to contact us by phone or online for assistance with choosing the right form of shrink film for your packaging needs.