Most people know hot-melt adhesive as the type of glue that comes out of a plastic cylinder inserted into a hot-glue gun.
These solvent-free, thermoplastic adhesives for home use are superb when it comes to affixing one surface to another. But did you also know that hot-melt glues are also used in manufacturing a variety of consumer products?
A few hot melt adhesive applications include:
Adhering airplane seats, galleys and overhead bins, where its lighter weight and rigidity improves fuel efficiency and adds durability. Hot-melt also has the lowest heat release rate of any compound, which is the most important factor in fire safety.
- Manufacturing vehicles and RVs, such as affixing weatherstripping around doors, fastening headliner harness and preformed rigid foam insulation to the chassis. You’ll also find it in Azdel boards or panels, to replace traditional luan sidewalls or cloth ceiling panels.
- Book binding, where it effectively replaces old-fashioned glues which failed after the third or fourth reading, leaving a book – especially a paperback – in pieces. Hot-melt adhesives are also valued for assembling/binding magazines and journals, offering superior performance in spite of how often the objects are handled, left open on their spines, or spilled on.
- Manufacturing pleated filters for portable (room-to-room) air cleaners, water filters, automotive oil and air filters, and HVAC (home heating, ventilation, and air-conditioning) systems. Hot-melt assembly also provides extensive durability to range hood filters, paint booth filters, vacuum filters, and even the tiny filters used in pharmaceutical and biologic’s laboratory devices.
Hot-melt adhesives require less investment than solvent-based glues, require less production space, use fewer raw materials (and use them more effectively), require less preparation and less protection, and reduce manufacturing energy costs.
In fact, thanks to their high molecular weight polymers, tackifiers (for stickiness), and plasticizers (for flexibility), they enable even simple machinery to assemble consumer products without getting “stuck up.”
Wondering how hot melt adhesive can revolutionize your company’s products? Contact Sure Tack Systems today to find out how we can help you with your hot melt adhesive needs.
