TECHNOLOGIES & TECHNIQUES

FLEXIBLE PACKAGING

Four-roll solventless
coating head.

Typical gravure coating head.

Chart 1. Energy LCI for lamination adhesives.

Chart 2. Cure rate of some solventless adhesives.

Solventless Laminating Adhesives

Poised for continued growth
By Michael Leib and Larry Jopko

n the 1970s, one of the first major energy crunches occurred,

spurring the development of solventless adhesive technology
for packaging to replace the commonly used solvent-based
adhesives. The same issues exist today: high energy costs, high
raw material costs, higher labor costs, environmental concerns
and the need to supply finished and safe laminate in ever shorter time. The current state of solventless adhesive development
favors all of these issues. While converters are paying more for
energy and raw materials, retailers and consumer product goods
manufacturers are trying to drive prices down.There are many
advantages to using solventless adhesives today, based upon the
current economic and reglulatory conditions.

RELATIVE COSTS
The adhesive is the least costly part of the lamination construction, between 1 percent and 5 percent of raw material cost
(substrates, inks, coatings) but involves the most costly waste
poor adhesion, or lack of performance in the intended use, and
usually results in total scrap of the construction. When the cost
of the competing adhesive types, solvent-based, water-based
and solventless, are compared, there is a clear advantage for
solventless.

Relative Cost Normalized to Solventless AdhesivesAverage Pricing by class

Adhesive Type/Class
Solventless
General Purpose and Medium Performance
High / Special Performance
Solvent Base
General Purpose and Medium Performance
High / Special Performance
Water Base
General Purpose and Medium Performance
32

FLEXO

J U LY

2008

As Supplied
(based on solids)

As Applied Solids + diluent

and coreactant (If needed)

2.2

2.2

1.7 1.9

1.9 2.1

2.8 - 3

3.2 3.4

1.3

1.5

w w w. f l e x o g r a p h y. o r g

TECHNOLOGIES & TECHNIQUES

Table 1.
Adhesive System
1-part
2-part
High Performance

Coating Weight (Pounds/ream)

100% Solids
Solvent Based Water Based
0.8-1.2
1.25-1.5
1.0-1.25
0.8-1.2
1.25-1.5
1.0-1.25
1.25-1.5
2.0-3.0
-

The solventless adhesive also has some cost advantage simply

due to applied weight. Solventless adhesive is generally applied at
lower weight on average (Table 1).

MACHINE REQUIREMENTS
Solventless adhesives require a dedicated coating head, consisting of three or four smooth application rolls for the adhesive. A
conventional gravure, offset gravure, or flexographic coating system cannot be used effectively. In addition, superior tension control of the substrates is required due to low bond and low shear of
the solventless adhesive. Current dedicated solventless machines
cost much less than similar laminators dedicated to water- or
solvent-based adhesives, or a combination of solventless/water/
solvent-based with interchangeable coating heads (Table 2).

Chart 1 compares the energy LCI of the various adhesive types and shows much lower energy consumption
for solventless adhesives. Note that energy used for
transportation is much lower for solventless because
fewer drums are shipped. This also means the converter
uses less warehouse space, and has fewer drums to
handle/dispose of/recycle.

PRODUCT CATEGORIES
Adhesives encompass the categories of general purpose (low
demand/low performance), medium performance (demanding
bonds and performance) and high performance (elevated temperature and specialty/aggressive content performance). Current solventless adhesives cover the full range of lamination use, having
the capability to be used in place of water-based and solvent-based
adhesives. Solventless adhesives can be used across all the current
substrates commonly used in packaging (Table 3).
Currently, available solventless adhesives cure more quickly than
older versions without the need for energy cure assist, extended
hot room acceleration cure, special handling and equipment.

FDA REGULATIONS

ENERGY EFFICIENCY
Over the last five years, the cost of natural gas has increased
50 percent and the cost of crude oil has increased by more than
246 percent (U.S. Energy Information Administration). In todays
economy, there is more to the cost of an adhesive than just the delivered cost to the converter or energy consumed to use it. There
is also the need to consider the Life Cycle Inventory (LCI). This is
an analysis of the energy required to make and use an adhesive, as
well as water consumption and carbon dioxide emissions associated with manufacture and use of an adhesive.

For food packaging adhesives, there are very specific regulations in Title 21 of the Code of Federal Regulations (CFR) under
parts 170 to 199, under the Food and Drug Administration (FDA).
Of the many parts, the three that are most pertinent are:
Part 175.105 - Adhesives (for use up to 120 F).
Part 177-1390 - Laminate structures for use at temperatures
of 250 F and above.
Part 177.1395 - Laminate structures for use at temperatures
between 120 F and 250 F.

Table 3.

Table 2.
Machine
Characteristic

Solventless

Solvent

Water

Use existing
laminator

No need function specific coating

method

Yes can use

conventional
laminator

Yes can use

conventional
laminator

Coating head

3 or 4 smooth roll
application

Flexo, gravure,
offset gravure

Flexo,
gravure

Drying

None

Yes

Yes

Typical Line
speed (feet/
minute)

700-1500

300-1000

500-1200

Relative machine
cost (dedicated)

Low

Medium
high

Medium
- high

Superior

Average to
good

Average to
good

Factory footprint

Low to medium

Medium to
high

Medium to
high

Meter/mix/pump

Needed

Not needed

Not needed

Adhesive waste

Low

High

Medium
- high

Heated rolls

Application rolls, nip

Nip

nip

Tension control

34

FLEXO

J U LY

2008

w w w. f l e x o g r a p h y. o r g

Solvent
Base

Water
Base

+/-

Fresh Produce

Medical

Hot Fill and

Boilable

+/-

Retort

no

Agricultural
Chemicals

+/-

End Use

Solventless

Snack Food
Confectionery
Meat and
Cheese
Stand Up
Pouch
All Plastic
Lamination
Barrier Plastic
Lamination
Metal
Lamination

TECHNOLOGIES & TECHNIQUES

Table 4.
Availability for Use
FDA Regulation
175.105
177.1390
177.1395

Solventless

Water Base

Solvent
Base

A reputable solventless adhesive supplier will list the FDA

Regulations to which the adhesive complies, as well as appropriate recommendations for intended use to ensure safety in the
packaging for food supply (Table 4).

CURE BY TECHNOLOGY
One of the advantages of current solventless adhesives is that the chemistry
is well known and has been in use for
decades, based on urethane chemistry
developed first as solvent-based adhesives.
The history of performance is known and
generates confidence in use. With new
advancements in chemistry, the same approach of urethane chemistry is now much
safer for the workers and can cure in a very
fast time to produce fit-for-use packaging
in a relatively short time. Many current solventless adhesives now cure as fast, if not
faster than, their solvent-born analogues.

FUTURE DIRECTIONS
The progress of the solventless adhesive technology continues. Various new
approaches and cure mechanisms are
being explored, including:
Bio-based raw materials, which reduce petroleum-based materials.
Non-isocyanate curing, which further
enhances safety.
Energy-assist curing (electron beam
or UV light), which cure faster.
Faster-cure mechanisms that retain
ease of use.
Given the current state of solventless
adhesives, there are clear advantages
in economy, energy use and efficiency
compared to conventional solvent- and
water-based adhesives. Solventless now
covers all of the foreseen applications for
lamination of packaging, from simple
snack laminations to the very demanding
medical, high-heat sterilizable and retort
packaging. For new installations of lamination capacity, solventless adhesive use
should be considered as one of the prime
approaches.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Larry Jopko is technical service manager,

North America Region, Packaging and Industrial Adhesives, Specialty
Materials Group. He has 10 years of experience in converting and 24
years on the supply side, mainly in adhesives, coatings, heat seal coatings, barrier, functional coatings. Michael Leib has been with Rohm
and Haas for 23 years. In his tenure he has held positions such as
R&D chemist, technical service chemist and is currently a technical
service manager in the Flexible Packaging Group.