Vessel closing laminate

1. A vessel closing laminate comprising:

a seal laminate comprising a bottom subassembly of layers including a foil layer; and a seal substrate attached to the uppermost layer of the bottom subassembly of layers wherein the seal substrate has a bottom foam layer and a top plastics material layer and further includes a free tab lying wholly within the circumference of the seal laminate;

a wax layer on top of the top plastics material layer of the seal substrate; and

an absorbent liner adhered to the top plastics material layer of the seal substrate by the wax layer.

2. The laminate according to claim 1 , wherein the absorbent liner is formed from cardboard or pulpboard.

3. The laminate according to claim 2 , wherein the top plastics material layer of the seal substrate is a polyester.

4. The laminate according to claim 3 wherein the polyester is polyethylene terephthalate.

5. The laminate according to claim 1 , wherein one or more bottom food contact layers are induction heat sealable.

6. The laminate according to claim 1 , wherein the wax layer has a dot or hatch patterning.

7. The laminate according to claim 6 , wherein the wax layer is adhered to the top plastic material layer of the seal substrate with a peel strength of greater than 3N as measured at a rate of 500 mm/min on a sample strip 50 mm wide in accordance with ASTM 1464:1995.

8. The laminate according to claim 1 , wherein the wax layer has a coat weight in the range from 4 to 18 gm −2 .

9. The laminate according to claim 1 wherein the free tab is formed by the top plastic material layer being adhered to the bottom foam layer of the seal substrate over only a portion of the diameter of the seal.

10. The laminate according to claim 9 , wherein a further layer of polyethylene terephthalate, nylon or polypropylene is interposed between the top plastics material layer and the bottom foam layer of the seal substrate in the region where they are not bonded together.

11. The vessel closing laminate of claim 1 , wherein the bottom foam layer is a foamed polyolefin about 70 to about 300 microns thick, the wax layer is about 4 to about 18 g/m 2 , and the foil layer is about 12 to about 30 microns thick so that the foil layer is effective to melt the wax layer across the entire surface of top plastics material layer to permit separation of the absorbent liner from the top plastics material layer when heat sealing the vessel closing laminate to a container.

12. The vessel closing laminate of claim 11 , wherein the wax layer has a dot or hatch patterning and where the wax layer is adhered to the top plastic material layer of the seal substrate prior to heat sealing the vessel closing laminate to a container with a peel strength of greater than 3N as measured at a rate of 500 mm/min on a sample strip 50 mm wide in accordance with ASTM 1464:1995.

13. The vessel closing laminate of claim 5 , wherein the bottom food contact layers are heat sealable and the free tab is formed by the top plastics material layer being adhered to the bottom foam layer of the seal substrate over only a portion of the diameter of the seal.

14. The vessel closing laminate of claim 13 , wherein a further layer is interposed between the top plastics material layer and the bottom foam layer of the seal substrate in the region where they are not bonded together.

15. The vessel closing laminate of claim 13 , wherein the foil layer and the seal substrate permit melting of the wax layer so that the absorbent liner separates from the top plastics material layer when heat sealing the vessel closing laminate to a container.

16. A screw cap including the vessel closing laminate according to claim 1 which has been cut to form a vessel closing assembly.

17. The screw cap according to claim 16 wherein the vessel closing assembly is adhered within the cap.

18. The screw cap according to claim 17 , wherein the vessel closing assembly is fixed in position in the cap.

19. A container fitted with a cap according to claim 16 wherein the bottom subassembly of layers of the vessel closing assembly are sealed to the mouth of the container and the wax layer has been absorbed by the absorbent liner.

20. A method of forming the vessel closing laminate according to claim 1 comprising the steps of:

(a) feeding the seal laminate comprising the bottom subassembly of layers and the bottom foam layer of the seal substrate to a laminating station;

(b) feeding a tabstock which is narrower than the seal laminate to the laminating station such that the bottom of the tabstock and the top of the bottom foam layer of the seal laminate come into contact to form a primary substrate, the top face of which is partly comprised of the top face of the tabstock and partly comprised of the bottom foam layer of the seal laminate prior to reaching the laminating station;

(c) feeding the top plastics material layer which has a top and bottom surface to the laminating station;

(d) continuously extruding a polymeric adhesive between the top face of the primary substrate and the bottom surface of the top plastics material layer;

(e) applying the molten wax layer to the top surface of the top plastics material layer; and

(f) adhering the absorbent liner to the wax layer while it is still molten.

21. The method according to claim 20 , wherein in step (d), the top face of the primary substrate and the bottom surface of the plastic film stock are adhered together with a bond strength greater than 15N/12.5 mm at 330 mm/min when the tabstock is pulled at 90° to the machine direction and 180° to the primary substrate.

22. The method according to claim 20 , wherein in step (e), the molten wax layer is applied to obtain a coat weight in the range from 4 to 18 gm −2 .

23. The method according to claim 20 wherein the polymeric adhesive has a melt flow index in the range from 2 to 17 dg/min.

24. The method according to claim 20 , wherein the polymeric adhesive is ethylene acrylate.

25. The method according to claim 20 wherein in step (e), the molten wax layer is applied in a dot or hatched pattern.