Packaging adhesive challenges
To create any type of packaging, an adhesive is applied to one side of the substrate and needs to ‘penetrate’ the fibres so that when both sides are pressed together, they form a bond. It can become difficult when the adhesive is not able to penetrate the fibres of the board, this can be due to an applied plastic, waterproof, or wax coating. The purpose of the coating is to stop liquids from penetrating the board and since a hot melt adhesive is a liquid, it can stop it from bonding the board together.
Another challenge that can occur stems from the ‘memory’ of packaging, for example, consumer packaging is normally made of single or double-fluted corrugated boards which gives the container its strength and rigidity. However, this does mean that the boards have a lot of memory, which can lead to them wanting to pop back into their original form. This could happen if the adhesive bond is not strong enough.
Our BAMFutura™ adhesives have been developed to make sure that they suit every substrate and application need.
Types of packaging
Carton sealing is generally used to pack food or other consumer items like cereal, frozen pizzas, and toothpaste, for example. Often, they are easy to bond, though a lot of cartons are printed on and the inks and/or coatings can lead to bonding difficulties. Some packages have certain areas with no print/coating, the so-called ‘reserve area’, which makes it easier to bond the boards as this allows the adhesive to make good contact with the board fibres.
We have developed adhesives that can either penetrate the boards through the ink / coatings or that can bond the lining on the other side of the board, so it sticks the two together, relying on the high adhesion rather than having to penetrate the board. Examples of adhesives that are suitable for carton sealing are BAMFutura 43VE, BAMFutura 44, and BAMFutura 48.
Case sealing is commonly used to package cartons for delivery. The boards are normally single or double-fluted corrugated board, which gives the case the strength and rigidity that it needs as they are often used for delivering consumer products. Due to the strength and rigidity of the boards they can have a lot of ‘memory’ which can be challenging to bond. To make sure this doesn’t happen the adhesive needs to provide a strong bond; adhesives that are suitable for case sealing include BAMFutura 1, BAMFutura 43VE, BAMFutura 44, and BAMFutura 45.
Tray erection is most commonly used to package fresh produce. The boards that are used for this type of application tend to be very rigid and have a wax coating depending on what they are used for. As explained before, stiffer boards tend to have more memory, putting additional stress on the adhesive bond. However, this is not the only challenge for this application. Often, the packaging is used in warm and humid environments which means that there is a chance a hot melt can get soft if it doesn’t have the right heat resistance. Therefore, it is important that you choose an adhesive that can do both; bond the wax-coated board together and have good high-temperature resistance.
The adhesives that are suitable to use for this application are BAM 2500 and BAMFutura 44 and BAMFutura 45 as they have the right high heat resistance and provide the necessary bond strength.
Specialist adhesives
Sometimes you can come across packaging applications that can be extra challenging, for example highly coated boards and deep freeze packaging. For these types of applications, we have developed the BAMFutura 50’s range, which is a premium range of adhesives that offer high adhesion and can be used for a broad spectrum of materials, temperatures, and packaging needs.
BAMFutura 51 offers superior adhesion to demanding coated surfaces and has unrivalled resistance to high and low temperatures. It is often used for highly coated paper around ice cream cones as it provides the high adhesion that is needed to bond the coated paper together but can also withstand cooler temperatures.
Other adhesives that are used are BAMFutura 55 and BAMFutura 56.
If you would like more information on our packaging adhesives, please email your enquiry to marketing@beardowadams.com and one of our adhesive specialists will be in touch!