H.B. Fuller Expert Shares Insight into Dual Curing Adhesives for Flexible Packaging at AIMCAL Europe

July 5, 2012

On June 12, H.B. Fuller’s Andreas Meyer, technical manager, Flexible Packaging Europe, presented “Dual Curing Adhesives for Flexible Packaging” at AIMCAL Europe 2012 Web Coating and Web Handling conference. Held in Prague, Czech Republic, the conference offered technical forums for individuals involved with web coating and finishing giving them an opportunity to network and learn how to improve quality, productivity and profitability from industry experts.

Flexible packaging is a rapidly growing market, and the primary technologies used for flexible packaging film lamination are solventless, solvent-based and water-based adhesives. There also is a small but growing market for radiation-cured adhesives.

The use of solventless adhesives in particular has been growing for a number of reasons including good performance, speed and efficiency, and reduction of energy consumption. At AIMCAL, Meyer discussed H.B. Fuller’s research on patented technology that incorporates UV or EB-curing with standard solventless adhesives, looking at whether it would improve performance and provide benefits to converters.

One aspect that makes this technology novel is the use of a dual curing mechanism where the first stage is a radiation cure that provides an instantaneous build of molecular weight and viscosity, and the second stage is a urethane cure that provides strength, thermal and chemical resistance to the structure. Through a series of case studies, Meyer showed how a dual-curing adhesive system:

• Provided improved properties including higher initial viscosity and shear strength compared with standard solventless adhesives
• Could be successfully used on porous substrates without bleed through
• Could be used in multilayer laminations and provide faster turnaround and in-line processing
• And could be used in place of solvent or water-based adhesives for more economical processing and faster line speeds

At H.B. Fuller, we are always looking at innovative solutions to meet our customers’ needs in the fast-growing flexible packaging market. Contact us to learn more about how we can help you.

Andreas Meyer
Technical Manager EIMEA, Flexible Packaging

Tags: web coating, Dual, Andreas Meyer, film lamination, solventless, Flexible Packaging, AIMCAL, Dual Curing, conference, flexible, Curing, web handling,