Hot Melt Adhesives
Hot melt adhesives are thermoplastic compounds or polymers that are solid at room temperature and liquefy upon heating, and resolidify with cooling to create a bond. They offer a number of advantages over other adhesive types and mechanical fasteners. Compared to other adhesives hot melts form bonds nearly instantaneously, so operating speeds are not limited by drying and curing rates. Hot melts save energy because they require less energy to melt than water or solvent based adhesive require to dry or cure. Hot melts also save you on costly solvent extraction equipment, associated with solvent based adhesive. With the elimination of drying ovens or clamping areas, they save plant space too.
Hot melts are also environmentally safe; they're 100% nonvolatile which means they don't pollute the air or effluent water. Unlike liquid adhesives, they don't leave residues in shipping containers which allow cartons to be recycled. Hot melts also do not require cleaning with solvents or cleaning equipment.
In many applications hot melts can replace screws, nut and bolt assemblies, rivets, nail, clips and other expensive fasteners. Besides the money savings in these cases, hot melts can mean weight saving too. They can also improve product appearance by replacing unattractive, exposed fasteners.
Hot melt are available in many different forms, dependant on the equipment they are to applied with or the specific application they are being used for. These forms include sticks, slugs, cartridges, chips, chunks, slats, powders, crystals, bricks and others.
Some of the newest applications for hot melt are with utilization of "swirl" spray systems. In "swirl spray the hot melt is pumped under pressure from a bulk heating tank through either a stationary or hand held applicator, and applies in a circular pattern (swirl). Products which are most commonly used in this system are pressure sensitive.
Hot Melt Applicators
Hot melt application equipment is almost as varied as the adhesives them selves. Primary these systems fall into two basics types. Hand held, using sticks slugs or cartridges, and bulk systems which can usually accept a wide variety of form of hot melt.
Rainbow is currently not in the business of selling bulk systems, we can however put you in contact with a specialist in this field. We do carry a wide variety of hand held applicators.
When choosing an applicator the main feature is to determine the output required. Hand held applicators run from small craft style guns to large high output guns. Another main deciding factor is the availability and pricing of the form of hot melt the applicator will accept.
We would be pleased in assisting you in choosing an applicator that will suit your specific needs.
View or download the catalog
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