The Beat Goes On

As summer nears and end, it’s time to reflect and start anew. From an adhesive standpoint, along with the change of seasons brings additional challenges to the bonding process. Cooler night-time temperatures may mean cooler than expected adhesive application temperatures. Cooler temperatures may also mean cooler substrates and thus alterations may need to be made to exact the same bonding characteristics. Of course, climate controlled areas will have less of a change then uncontrolled ones. Enjoy the fall, be aware of the changes. Thank you for reading this. TR

GreenMelt

Check out our newest invention at Wisdom Adhesives – GreenMelt.  GreenMelt is the latest in a serious of GreenBond Sustainable Adhesives products with a unique use of chemistry to produce a product that will reduce usage by at least 10% over conventional hot melt products.  GreenMelt GM7000 is designed for packaging applications where a reduction in the amount of adhesive used is exacted with GreenMelt where other products require more.

Think of it as using a more fuel efficient automobile.

Also, our unique processing of the product into microchips requiring less energy to produce.

Check it out at www. wisdomadhesives.com

GreenMelt = “Less is More”

Adhesives & Raw Materials

Whew!  Another year is nearly in the books.  I would like to wish everyone a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year ….. Enjoy the Holiday Season.

Speaking of enjoyment, if you haven’t seen the latest news on raw materials and the price of adhesives of all types, I would suggest you do some catching up before the end of the year.  In short, nearly all raw materials going into adhesive are either in short supply or increasing in price or both.  Hot melts raw materials including waxes and tackifiers are allocation and have increased in price significantly to the tune of about 20%.  Same goes for the based polymers.  Polyurethanes and acrylics have seen and are seeing tightness in the monomer markets and increase in most by around 20% in cost.  Waterborne adhesive have essentially the same story to tell.

If you’re a betting person, and I tend to be, look for more of the same in 2011.

God Bless and Happy Holidays!

Bookbinding Adhesives Challenges Presentation

Presented at the 75^th HBI/LBI conference, this presentation covers different types of adhesives used in bookbinding as well as outlines challenges and solutions for warping, adhesion including coated stock adhesion, case making and set time.  To view the presentation on Slideshare.net click on the link below.

Update from the HBI/LBI Conference

It was an honor to attend and present at the 2010 Fall Hardcover Binders International and The Library Binding Institute (HBI/LBI) conference is Springfield, IL this past weekend.  Wisdom Adhesives congratulates the HBI/LBI on their 75th anniversary and all the hard working people over the years to make it happen.  Hats off to everyone – members, associate members and HBI/LBI staff for putting on such a uniquely wonderful meeting.

Presentation at HBI/LBI conference

Congratulations Fritz & Lang

 

Just wanted to congratulate our friends Fritz and Lang of LBS on their successful triumph at the Peking to Paris Rally.  We will miss them at the LBI/HBI this weekend.  Check them out at the link:

http://www.pekingparis2010.com

Rigid and Flexible Packaging – Which Packaging is Greener

Which packaging type is greener – rigid or flexible.  For the most part rigid packaging is derived from paper products while flexible packaging is made of plastic films.  At a first glance, one would think that rigid packaging is more green, but there are many factors to consider including:

-         Markets

-         Materials Used

-         Cost to Produce

-         Shelf-Life Considerations

-         Disposal

-         Marketing

I’ve recently written an article for publication in the Adhesives & Sealant Council organization (asccouncil.org) website, take a look and share your thoughts on this subject.

Have a safe and happy 4th of July!

Raw Material Pricing

As the economy seems to be improving, petrochemical materials – including those which are used to make all types of adhesives – are on the rise costwise. Not only does the rise of oil impact the pricing, but it appears capacity (commonly referred to as iron in the ground) and geopolitical issues are affecting cost. Many chemical companies are investing overseas where regulation and taxation are less of an incumberance. One trend seems clear, as the economy improves raw materials appear to be increaseing in cost and decreasing in readily available supply.

Green Pallet Initiative

Wisdom Adhesives is embarking on a new initiative further “Greening” our commitment to become more and more environmentally friendly with the use of corrugated pallets and tote containers.  The pallets are produced using Wisdom Adhesives own GreenBond Sustainable Adhesives.  The corrugated pallets and corrugated tote bins (pictured here) are an offshoot of the Wisdom Incubator Program and are in “test” mode at several Beta sites in just another step on our continuing journey down the Green Path.

Bonding to Plastics with Waterborne Adhesives

Bonding to low energy plastic surfaces can be a challenge.  Doing so with waterbased adhesives can make that challenge even more difficult.  We’ve all experienced the benefits to a treated plastic surface for most plastic films be it polyethylene, polypropylene, nylon, polyester or other, however, what happens when in-line treatment or aged pre-treated surfaces come in to play.  The use of superior (and more costly) polymeric backbones can help and the use adhesion promoters or co-solvents can enhance the waterbased products and boost the performance to acceptable adhesion levels.

I would be interested in hearing from you on the issues you may have encountered and the solutions used to solve the challenge.