Empac tinplate specification commission (TSC)

 

Marco Checchi Chairman

Giovanni Cappelli Secretary

General remarks

• The TS commission is chaired by Marco Checchi (Pelliconi).
• Giovanni Cappelli (ANFIMA) acts as secretary.
• Members of the commission come from tinplate packaging producers and national associations.
• The commission works in cooperation with Tinplate producers (ArcelorMittal, Corus, Ilva, Rasselstein, USSteel) and ITRI (International Tin Research Institute).
• TSC usually meets twice per year. In the past some meetings were hosted by Tinplate producers, visiting Corus (IJmuiden), Rasselstein (Andernacht), Arcelor (Florange), Ilva (Thessaloniki) and USSteel (Kosice).

Purposes

• Be the reference group for technical matters and for the support on normative activities;
• Build up a common knowledge and understanding;
• Make decisions on recommendations for good practices and standards, creating transparency and efficiency;
• Exchange technical information.

Main activities
The commission prepared a “Tinplate Glossary” which is present on the Empac website (downloads – guideline documents).
One of the commission’s interests in the past few years has been tinplate passivation. Although current systems are more than adequate, modifications may have to take place depending on legislation. This is being looked at in cooperation with American and Asian producers. It encompasses not only environmental criteria but also a wide range of performance criteria: aging, good adhesion, weldability, cost, etc. The overall performance must improve or at least be equivalent to existing ones.

Another topic of interest relates to the performance of coating and lacquering in passivation.