Adhesives & Sealants Industry Top Stories

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Many industries have struggled due to the impact of COVID-19, but ecommerce certainly isn’t one of them. eMarketer reports that retail ecommerce sales alone grew 27.6% globally in 2020, to reach nearly $4.3 trillion.

Ultraviolet (UV) light-emitting diode (LED) curing technology offers significant advantages compared to traditional mercury UV curing. As a result, adhesive bonding, sealing, and coating processes in factory assembly lines are rapidly upgrading to UV LED curing technology.

The ideal pressure-sensitive adhesive (PSA) delivers exactly the right amount of bonding at the lowest cost. Choosing the right adhesive hasn’t always been easy, however. We have all heard stories about adhesives failing prematurely, as well as how costly those failures can be to product manufacturers.

Water-based adhesives for paper lamination are typically formulated with different types of binders, including: natural polymers (e.g., dextrins and starches), inorganic “polymers” (e.g., sodium silicates), and oil derivative-based polymers (e.g., polyvinyl alcohol and polyvinyl acetate).

Operating in the food and beverage industry requires careful considerations for packaging—from food safety to aesthetics.

Acrylate and silicone have dominated the medical adhesives market for years. However, the adhesives currently available often require device engineers to choose between strength and wear duration, or comfort and pliability.

Producers focus on minimizing waste, reducing costs, increasing product quality, and maximizing plant efficiency. Wasted efforts are certainly a drain on resources, in addition to wasted product, creating the need to evaluate and implement lean manufacturing principles.

Looking ahead, sustainable packaging represents an important opportunity for the print and paper industry. This comes as consumer packaged goods (CPG) companies increasingly seek to make their products more sustainable, along with the packaging they use.

Better resistance to UV, abrasion, scratching, and impact. Better adhesion and improved properties for water-based formulation. The demands on today’s coatings, adhesives, sealants, and elastomers (CASE) create a long list of desirable properties for feedstocks.