Making It — Chapter 3: (Continuous) Calendering

So imagine yourself making your own lasagna sheets for dinner tonight.. “How will I get the sheets to be so flat?” Is that what you asked? To answer that we have a pasta machine.

Get Himanshi Jesrani’s stories in your inbox

Join Medium for free to get updates from this writer.

Remember me for faster sign in

But, for the manufacturers who need their materials to be flattened with a finish and shine.. what do they use? That’s where calendering comes in.

Calendering is a finishing process used for typically textiles, paper and plastic film (mainly PVC). The process involves the specific material to be passed through several pairs of rollers in order to be stretched to the required thickness. It is usually applied to the product to smoothen, coat or thin it.

Since the process is mostly automated, it requires high consumption of power. However, the machines operate at incredibly high speeds which helps maximizes the energy use and therefore, excess material is minimal.