3 Essential Performance Capabilities for Tape Adhesives in Evolving Construction Applications

While construction tape applications have adapted to meet modern construction challenges, the adhesive technologies powering them have remained steadfast. Manufacturers must grasp the essential performance capabilities required to meet dynamic application demands. Learn how pressure sensitive adhesive (PSA) technologies meet evolving needs.

Tapes used in building applications have evolved to address the need for increased flexibility, improved safety and enhanced sustainability. However, the adhesive technologies used in manufacturing these tapes have stayed the same because the formulations have proven to be effective.

Therefore, it’s critical for manufacturers like you to understand what performance capabilities your adhesives need to offer to ensure you’re able to meet evolving application needs even with current technologies.

#1: The Need for Increased Flexibility in House Wrap

House wrap is now commonly used for residential construction over traditional stone or brick for house structures. This is because house wrap provides a flexible, weather-resistant barrier that’s typically made of synthetic materials like polyethylene or polypropylene. However, house wrap applications can vary, which can impact end-use performance and the chosen adhesive as a result.

Permeability levels impact how much water vapor passes through the house wrap. If the wrap is more breathable than others, it will provide improved moisture management within the wall assembly.
Thickness and density of the house wrap can impact its strength and tear resistance. Thicker and denser wraps may offer better protection against damage during installation and exposure to harsh weather conditions.

How Construction Tape Adhesives Address Increased Flexibility for House Wrap

The tape adhesive formulation used in house wrap plays a crucial role in its performance, especially in terms of flexibility. Going from rigid material in traditional construction materials to a flexible product like house wrap means the adhesive formulation must include:

Elasticity: In order to provide flexibility to wrap around a house, the adhesive formulation must include elastomers, which typically have a higher coefficient of thermal expansion (CTE) compared to rigid materials like mechanical fasteners. This helps with expansion and contraction to reduce any potential damage caused during various temperature changes or when the adhesive is under load-bearing stress.
Environmental Resistance: Even though an adhesive for house wrap will not be directly exposed when the structure is complete, the formulation still needs to protect against moisture, temperatures and UV to maintain longevity. The right formulation will have high adhesion strength to maintain durability in cold or hot temperatures or during sudden temperature changes. As mentioned above, elastomers, which are usually rubber-based, also enable moisture resistance, preventing water or moisture from moving through the layers of the home and creating mold. It’s also important for the adhesive formulation to have UV-resistant properties that can prevent degradation from the sun over time.
Substrate compatibility: The adhesive formulation will likely come into contact with other parts of the house wrap, which can include plywood, OSB, gypsum sheathing, fiberboard, metal, concrete, vinyl and insulation. Therefore, it needs to offer a wide range of substrate compatibility to prevent hazardous chemical reactions that could compromise the integrity of the materials.

#2: The Need for Improved Safety in Insulation

While modern-day construction methods have now made it standard to place insulation inside the wall cavity for building code compliance, there have been times in the past where insulation was applied on the exterior of houses, known as "exterior insulation" or "exterior insulation and finish system" (EIFS). This change to internal insulation now makes it easier to accomplish:

Inspection and maintenance: Insulation located on the interior is more accessible to identify issues such as mold growth, pest infestations, deterioration or any other potential health hazards. This helps address the issues promptly, contributing to overall building safety.
Fire Safety: Placing insulation on the interior side of the wall can help protect it from direct exposure to external flames, such as those from a neighboring fire. This interior placement reduces the risk of the insulation itself becoming a fire hazard.

How Construction Tape Adhesives Address Increased Safety for Insulation

It’s crucial for construction tape adhesives to follow similar requirements to internal insulation to help ensure the adhesive is not causing any setbacks in overall performance. These performance capabilities include:

Low Volatile Organic Compounds (VOCs): VOCs can contribute to indoor air pollution, which could lead to potential health hazards. Adhesive formulations that have little to no VOCs are preferred to maintain healthy indoor air quality. Further, the adhesive formulation should prevent the use of solvents for similar reasons, especially in indoor environments where occupants may be in close proximity to the materials without realizing it.
Fire protection: Adhesives for insulation need to meet fire safety standards, and therefore it’s recommended to avoid a solvent-based formulation. Not only does this protect the occupants from potential fires, but the adhesive formulation will also resist combustion or limit the spreading of flames.

#3: The Need for Sustainability in Construction Tape

With a push for less VOCs and released carbon emissions across markets, many manufacturers like you are considering ways to implement more environmentally-friendly materials into building material tape productions. This may involve changing out substrates that provide an improved end-of-life disposal process, such as recycling capabilities, or altering assembly processes to decrease overall energy usage.

How Adhesive Formulations Can Address Sustainability Demands

Whether it’s the formulation itself or how the adhesive is processed through tape manufacturing steps, adhesives can play a key role in improving sustainability in construction tape materials. This includes providing:

Solventless solutions: Solvent-based adhesives are not the only ones that offer durability. You can achieve durability even with solventless, or 100% solid, adhesives. This helps eliminate VOCs to better protect the occupants in a home. Further, they also reduce fire risks, as you no longer have to follow specific storage rules that are required with solvent-based products.
Wide application usage: Using an adhesive formulation that works with a range of applications, such as partitions or insulation panels, allows you to rely on one adhesive for multiple tape applications. This can save downtime that occurs when changing out adhesives on production lines and reduce energy usage.

How the Right Adhesive Technologies Make it Easier to Address Changing Application Requirements:

Designed for end-use tape applications in the construction market, waterborne acrylic and UV acrylic pressure sensitive adhesives (PSAs) help ensure your construction materials offer high-performance even when application requirements evolve.

Waterborne Acrylic PSAs

Offering both permanent and removable bonding, waterborne acrylic PSAs possess:

Flexibility: Typically formulated with elastomeric polymers, waterborne acrylic PSAs can stretch and deform under stress, allowing the adhesive to accommodate movement in construction materials without losing adhesion. They also have properties that allow the adhesive to absorb and distribute stress, making them well-suited for applications where flexibility is essential.
Safety: Waterborne acrylic PSAs have low VOC content as a solventless solution, contributing to enhanced indoor air quality when used for internal wall cavity applications. This also means a waterborne acrylic PSA formulation will not contain toluene or acetone, which are common flammable solvents in solvent-based adhesives. This helps reduce fire hazards for occupants. Waterborne acrylic PSAs also generally have minimal odor, making them more pleasant to work with and reducing the risk of irritation or discomfort. Further, they can be coated on to surfaces using simple methods such as rolling, brushing or spraying to enhance application safety.
Sustainability: As mentioned above, waterborne acrylic PSAs do not contain solvents, eliminating extra steps that would typically release carbon emissions to dry off the solvents. With wide application versatility including bonding insulation, sealing joints and vapor barriers, waterborne acrylic PSAs allow you to use one adhesive formulation on multiple components of your manufacturing to increase production speeds and decrease energy usage.

UV Acrylic PSAs

UV acrylic PSAs combine the key characteristics of solvent-based and hot melt technologies to enhance end-use performance:

Flexibility: UV acrylic PSAs form a cohesive and flexible bond between surfaces. This creates a network of polymer chains that provide both strength and elasticity, allowing the bonded materials to move and flex without compromising the bond. UV acrylic PSAs also typically experience low levels of shrinkage during the curing process, contributing to a stable and flexible bond between materials.
Safety: UV acrylic PSAs are comprised of 100% solids while providing similar durable strength to solvent-based adhesives. This allows you to utilize a formulation that does not require specialized storage or the burning off of solvents that could otherwise increase flammability risks. It also helps ensure the formulation will provide low VOC risks to occupants when used in an application installed in a home.
Sustainability: Along with reducing carbon emissions as a 100% solids solution, UV acrylic PSAs offer fast cure speeds to optimize plant energy usage, even with thick coat weights. By offering high strength durability, they can extend the application’s overall longevity and reduce repairs or replacements throughout the home’s lifespan.

How Choosing Bostik’s PSAs Further Helps You Address Evolving Construction Tape Application Needs

As the adhesive solutions segment of Arkema, Bostik has decades of experience researching and developing PSA technologies that offer the necessary performance capabilities for evolving construction material applications. Our vertical integration allows us to offer solutions wherever you’re located, while also allowing us to see the changing performance requirements in your region and find ways to provide the formulations you need.

With the most integrated and complete PSA offering in the market, our waterborne acrylic and UV acrylic PSAs are just a couple of the solutions we provide to enhance your end-use applications in the construction market. Along with our products, you’ll also have access to:

Customized formulations: We can test customized formulations to help ensure your adhesive is providing the performance levels you desire, or help you determine what performance features your adhesive still needs to address application changes.
Technical support: Our team is here to provide expertise and help you with throughout trialing processes, as well as troubleshooting during production.

Are you ready to find an adhesive formulation that provides the necessary performance requirements your application needs to be successful in the evolving construction market? Contact a Bostik expert to learn how our PSA technologies can help improve flexibility, safety and sustainability in your end-use performance.

Other Relevant Content:

Address Tape Sustainability Needs Without Sacrificing Performance

Why Choose UV Over Hot Melts and Solvents for Tape, Graphic Applications

VIDEO: How High Solids Help Your Pressure Sensitive Tape Sustainability

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