May 4, 2023 - 3-5 minutes
Address Tape Sustainability Needs Without Sacrificing Performance
Learn how pressure sensitive adhesives (PSAs) can help you reduce environmental impact while meeting performance needs and output demands.
Sustainability is a key consideration in today's world, as industries and consumers alike recognize the importance of reducing environmental impact. The tape market, even with its performance needs and output demands, is no exception. Accomplishing both for demanding applications while also meeting expectations for sustainability can be challenging.
However, when tapes for those applications are designed with the right pressure sensitive adhesives (PSAs), you can easily accomplish all.
However, when tapes for those applications are designed with the right pressure sensitive adhesives (PSAs), you can easily accomplish all.
The Right PSAs Meet Tapes’ Long-term Performance Needs, Contributing to Sustainability
For many industrial applications, tapes must function over extended periods of time. In the construction industry, for example, they are used as moisture and air barriers that help protect homes and other buildings. These tapes must maintain performance indefinitely, keeping warm or cool air where desired. They also enable energy efficiency, reducing heating and cooling costs and minimizing resource consumption.
Failure to maintain their integrity can cause significant damage to the structure as well as decreased energy efficiency. This damage may result in renovations, plus additional materials, time and resources, which increase carbon footprint and waste.
PSAs play an important role in tapes’ ability to maintain a proper seal, both initially and over time. If the PSA doesn’t offer sufficient performance for a given application, it can lead to:
Failure to maintain their integrity can cause significant damage to the structure as well as decreased energy efficiency. This damage may result in renovations, plus additional materials, time and resources, which increase carbon footprint and waste.
PSAs play an important role in tapes’ ability to maintain a proper seal, both initially and over time. If the PSA doesn’t offer sufficient performance for a given application, it can lead to:
- Increased waste generation from repair work needed
- Decreased energy efficiency levels
- Superior chemical, water and UV resistance
- High cohesion and adhesion levels
- Excellent performance across different temperatures
The Right PSAs Keep Efficiencies High, Contributing to Sustainability
Like many tape manufacturers, you may also be tasked with keeping output and efficiencies high. At the same time, there may be an expectation for reducing emissions, excess material use and discarded products.
To maintain smooth, sustainable operations, you look to reduce or avoid waste production and solvent use.
For example, house-wrap tape is generally made on wide rolls and cut into smaller units. A low-performing adhesive may be too soft, causing a buildup of adhesive on the cutting knives and tape edges. This leads to adhesive waste and may even require discarding the entire tape roll.
Additionally, the adhesive may be formulated with solvents. Solvents slow production lines down, since the solvent needs to first burn off in ovens, and you may need multiple production runs to achieve the needed coat weight. These ovens also take up a large carbon footprint and impact the number of production lines a plant can run, which further impacts plant efficiencies.
These concerns can be addressed with the right PSAs that offer:
To maintain smooth, sustainable operations, you look to reduce or avoid waste production and solvent use.
For example, house-wrap tape is generally made on wide rolls and cut into smaller units. A low-performing adhesive may be too soft, causing a buildup of adhesive on the cutting knives and tape edges. This leads to adhesive waste and may even require discarding the entire tape roll.
Additionally, the adhesive may be formulated with solvents. Solvents slow production lines down, since the solvent needs to first burn off in ovens, and you may need multiple production runs to achieve the needed coat weight. These ovens also take up a large carbon footprint and impact the number of production lines a plant can run, which further impacts plant efficiencies.
These concerns can be addressed with the right PSAs that offer:
- The required level of tack and shear to adhere as required and cut cleanly
- High to 100% solids content to keep production lines moving quickly and energy usage low
Why Choose Bostik for Your PSAs
Based on specialty solutions and UV acrylic technologies, choosing our PSAs for demanding tape applications also helps you for the following reasons:
Backwards Integration
As an Arkema company, Bostik offers a holistic approach to serving customers, which is unmatched in the industry. Because we are backward integrated, we are able to source our own polymers in-house. This enables us to offer a better supply position compared to other suppliers. Additionally, we are able to develop custom UV initiators, which allows us to offer increased differentiation to our customers. This, in turn, enables them to have more differentiated products, too.
Custom Formulation
At Bostik, we also have the technical expertise and dedicated resources to adjust product formulas as needed to meet specific customer needs. This capability further helps our customers stand out in their own market space.
Want to learn more about our tape PSAs? Visit our PSA technology page, or contact a Bostik expert today!
Learn More
Backwards Integration
As an Arkema company, Bostik offers a holistic approach to serving customers, which is unmatched in the industry. Because we are backward integrated, we are able to source our own polymers in-house. This enables us to offer a better supply position compared to other suppliers. Additionally, we are able to develop custom UV initiators, which allows us to offer increased differentiation to our customers. This, in turn, enables them to have more differentiated products, too.
Custom Formulation
At Bostik, we also have the technical expertise and dedicated resources to adjust product formulas as needed to meet specific customer needs. This capability further helps our customers stand out in their own market space.
Want to learn more about our tape PSAs? Visit our PSA technology page, or contact a Bostik expert today!
Learn More
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All information contained herein is believed to be accurate as of the date of publication, is provided “as-is” and is subject to change without notice. To review our full U.S. Legal Disclaimer, visit: https://bostik.com/us/en_US/privacy-policy/legal-disclaimer
All information contained herein is believed to be accurate as of the date of publication, is provided “as-is” and is subject to change without notice. To review our full U.S. Legal Disclaimer, visit: https://bostik.com/us/en_US/privacy-policy/legal-disclaimer