Question:

I am looking for the kind of removable adhesive that comes with many promotional items, say in magazines, that are glued to a page and that can be easily peeled off. The cured adhesive is soft, very elastic, and often clear and tacky even after peel-off.

Answer:

This type of adhesive is usually called a “tip-in” adhesive. “Tipping-in” is a term used by bookbinders for a method for incorporating loose pages such as a detached leaf, replacement page, errata sheet or other inserts into a bound volume. Formulation of a tip-in adhesive is not easy because it is often necessary to bond dissimilar materials, such as card stock to paper, glossy stock to matte stock, or even plastic to paper (credit cards that are attached to a mailer). Water-based latex adhesives can be used, such as polyvinyl acetate emulsions, but most high-volume work is done with specially designed hot melt adhesives. Most hot melt suppliers will carry this type of adhesive, and manufacturers of hot melt applicators have machines specially designed for this application.

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