Hot Melt Pressure Sensitive Adhesives
Bostik is a worldwide leader in Hot Melt Pressure Sensitive Adhesive (HMPSA). We design innovative and sustainable solutions by promoting reuse, recycling, and reducing the use of non-renewable resources in our adhesives. Working with our customers for many years, we have developed an unmatched level of expertise.
In our Smart Technology Centers, chemists and experts implement a variety of solutions to meet the most demanding needs of the sector. Discover how this technology can bring you many benefits in tapes, labels, flexible packaging, nonwovens, and automotive.
What are Hot Melt Pressure Sensitive Adhesives?
Hot Melt Pressure Sensitive Adhesives (HMPSA) are formulated with three primary raw materials: polymers, resins, and plasticizers. Polymers are the backbone and provide cohesive or internal strength. Resins tacky the polymer, plasticizers enable effective wet-out and lower the viscosity for coating. Heat and shear blend these materials in specific amounts to achieve the end-use properties needed for each application.
Pressure-sensitive adhesives are frequently used as sealing tapes or as self-adhesive labels. They behave differently from standard adhesives, as the adhesive layer should stay "liquid" until the tape or label is applied to the required surface.
What are the Benefits of Hot Melt Pressure Sensitive Adhesives?
Among the many advantages brought by HMPSA, we can mention the following features:
- Low VOC and compatibility with bio-based raw materials.
- Exceptional tack capabilities.
- Systems can be designed to display pressure sensitivity for applications like labeling, allowing the solid adhesive to form bonds with minimal force.
- Enable significantly faster setup times than solvent-based, water-based, and curable adhesive systems, making them a staple within high-speed manufacturing processes, such as automotive assembly.
- Well suited for cold temperature applications and maintaining adhesion in high humidity conditions.
- Adhere to the most challenging substrates.
- It can be tailored to possess lower tack where stickiness of an adhesive is undesirable, for example, with porous nonwovens.
What are Bostik's sustainable innovations about HMPSA?
Bostik designs sustainable Hot Melt Pressure Sensitive Adhesives that promote the reuse of packaging, durable goods, and nonwoven products, favor bio-based and renewable content, reduce energy and unsustainable raw materials, and encourage recycling.
Here are some of our durable HMPSA adhesive solutions:
- Wash-off label for refillable and recyclable bottle. Bostik designs adhesives that facilitate the recycling of glass bottles thanks to wash-off and residue-free label adhesives. During glass bottle use, the labels stay in place but come off easily and cleanly without contaminating the washing solution. The use of Hot Melt Pressure Sensitive Adhesives maintains the quality of the washing bath thanks to lower solubility than acrylic adhesive.
Bostik TLH 9200E is a patented pressure-sensitive adhesive with excellent removal properties, particularly convenient for glass bottles label. This adhesive prevents contamination of the washing baths.
- Biobased Hot-Melt adhesives (up to 50%), no mineral oil added for general purpose high performance label.
Bostik designs self-adhesive labels with solid adhesion for semi-freezes and General Purpose Permanent applications, compatible with film and paper face stock. These adhesives can be used for labeling food products thanks to Food Contact's compliance with all ingredients listed in 10/2011/EU. Finally, these adhesives are formulated with no added mineral oils.
Bostik TLH 9100E is a pressure-sensitive adhesive designed for food labeling with sustainability and consumer safety. It is designed with no addition of mineral oils, and it is compatible with all ingredients listed in 10/2011/EU.
FEATURED PRODUCT: TLH 9100E
- Reclosable lidding films to reduce food waste and enable recyclability (Recyclass certification for PE and APET recycling streams) in food trays.
We design HMPSA for Flexible Packaging application, which allows convenient and customizable packaging, highly appreciated by consumers. They also enable to keep left-over food fresh longer, avoid re-packing in zipper bags or Tupperware, and keep branding visible.
- Bio-based product for nonwovens applications. Bostik has developed biobased adhesives for nonwoven, initially with 50% and 75% bio-based content. These adhesives are designed to support Bostik's 'responsibly for hygiene' commitment. The Nuplaviva series' renewable ingredients provide the same performance and ease of processability expected from Bostik's traditional nonwoven adhesive formulations.
Featured product: NUPLAVIVA C50/C75
If you want to know more about our sustainable HMPSA innovations, contact us.
For which applications HMPSA are designed?
Self-adhesive labels
Bostik designs adhesives that promote the reuse of packaging and durable goods products, reduce energy and raw materials, favour renewable and biobased content, and encourage recycling. The main applications of bostik pressure sensitive label adhesives are the following ones:
Self-adhesive tapes
Hot Melt Pressure Sensitive Adhesives are widely used in tapes. You can find HMPSA adhesives for the following applications:
Automotive
Compatible with many complex automotive substrates, our spray and roll-coated Hot Melts reduce wastage and drying time. The rapid and precise application of Bostik Hot Melts makes them a staple within high-speed manufacturing processes. Bostik HMPSA is used mainly in automotive tapes and labels such as:
Flexible Packaging
Bostik offers a complete range of high-performance and innovative, flexible packaging solutions to meet your storage, transportation, marketing, and production needs and encourages the development of sustainable packaging. Our HMPSA systems are used for sustainable re-sealable food packaging.
Nonwovens
Hot Melt Pressure Sensitive Adhesives are mainly used in nonwoven. Nonwoven fabrics have long been able to take on the fabric's appearance, texture, and solidity. Now that technologies are improving, manufacturers have added softness to those essential qualities. The materials used to formulate nonwovens products are the key to softness. Discover our adhesives for:
Frequently Asked Questions about HMPSA
How are Hot Melt Pressure Sensitive Adhesives (HMPSA) applied for tapes & label?
Typically HMPSA is transfer coated from the release liner to the face stock to achieve the smoothest surface on the adhesive for bonding. Slot die is the most common type of coating method used with HMPSA. Roll coating or gravure printing may be used to pattern coat Hot Melts.
How to prevent degradation of HMPSA?
Hot Melt adhesives will degrade with extended time at elevated temperatures when the line is not running. Degradation can negatively affect the appearance, processability, and performance of an HMPSA. To prevent producing PSA labels or tapes out of specification, it's important to control the temperature of the melt tank, hose, and coating head during equipment-related downtime.
HMPSA products
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