Is Your Material Compatible With Your Textile Adhesive?
Adhesives are seeing increased use in textile manufacturing, offering an efficient and reliable method of securing fabrics together. However, before using a textile adhesive in your clothing manufacturing processes, ensure it's compatible with your materials first. Here’s how:
Do they have similar chemistries?
Adhesives bond more successfully to like-materials than unlike-materials. This is because it’s easier for textile adhesives to wet out a textile material comprised of a similar chemical backbone.
Do they have similar melting temperatures and softening points?
It’s also important to verify that the textile adhesive has a similar melting temperature and softening point as your chosen fabric. If the adhesive is applied at a hotter point than the fabric can handle, the fabric will become distorted.
Is the adhesive right for the textile’s end-use?
If only certain environmental and application conditions need to be met, then ensure the adhesive isn’t over-engineered for the textile’s end-use. This means that the textile adhesive should offer exactly the right amount of performance capabilities for what the textile will be used for when manufactured. If the adhesive is over-engineered, then you could be paying for functionality you don’t necessarily need.
What textiles and adhesives are typically compatible?
Refer to this chart to learn what textile adhesives are compatible for various textile applications:
| Textile Application | Textile Adhesives |
| Filtration | Melt blown polyester adhesives |
| Interiors (mattresses, window treatments, etc.) | Polyolefins, polyurethanes polyamides, hot melt pressure sensitives, web adhesives |
| Apparel | Hot melt polyurethanes, hot melt pressure sensitives |
| Medical | Hot melt pressure sensitives, polyesters, polyolefins (must meet skin contact specifications and bio-inertness) |
| Transportation | Polyolefins, polyamides, hot melt pressure sensitives, web adhesives, hot melt polyurethanes |
For more information on textiles adhesives, contact a Bostik expert today, and view this relevant content: