It is common for hotmelt adhesives to be supplied in a granulated format, this has many benefits including the ability to be vacuum transfer/used in filling systems and a high surface area to increase melt rate. Below we explore why liquid coated adhesives are superior to the traditional power method.
Hotmelt adhesive granules need to be coated in order to prevent them from clumping together and therefore creating a large mass that cannot be moved easily, used in a filling system or even fit into the adhesive tank! Nearly all hotmelts are dusted with an anti-clumping powder as they come out of the manufacturing process to try an counter these issues.
The dusting process can mean that the powder coating is not even, resulting in some pellets not being coated adequately and overcoated. Consequently, this can lead to issues for the end user with under coating such as clumping, which can make it tricky for auto feeding systems.
Overcoating is also a big issue which can result in the powder building up and problems such as filter blockages occur which can be costly to rectify in both machine downtime and spare parts. The powder is also at risk of contaminating product and can also create a potential slip hazard for operators which should be avoided at all costs.
At Interlock Adhesives, our Henkel Technomelt hotmelt adhesives are liquid coated as opposed to powered. This is an expensive process both for the application equipment and raw materials, but it is worth the investment. Liquid coating hotmelt adhesive eliminates the issues that come with powder coating and is standard on Henkel Technomelt.
There are many advantages of liquid coated adhesives over powder and they are:
- Reduce maintenance costs – no power means that keeping machine parts such as nozzles, filters and auto filling systems clean and blockage free meaning a lower spare part spend.
- Downtime Reduced – adhesive related downtime is reduced as filters, nozzles etc need changing less and blockages are avoided.
- Food Safe – Liquid coating provides a completely food safe solution, as all of our adhesives are food safe and come with documentation and certifications to support this.
- Health and Safety – Increase worker safety by eliminating the risk of slipping due to dust on the floor and removing inhalation risks.
- Increase Efficiency – due to unrestricted automatic feeding, even with high tack adhesives. This gives piece of mind to operators and avoids any costly problems such as the adhesive tank running dry.
- Eliminate Contamination – Avoid tank contamination with powder, ensuring the thermal stability of the adhesives isn’t compromised.
This is another reason when Henkel Technomelt adhesives are market leading in performance and quality. See how we can help you take your application to the next level, contact us today to find out.
