Solventless Laminating Today, 1993 Polymers, Laminations & Coatings Conference Proceedings

William R. Myer

Solventless laminating has been used in Europe extensively since the 1970’s for both film-to-film laminations and also film-to-foil and film-to-paper laminations. The adhesive systems used are similar in chemistry to the thermal bonding systems that are used in the United States for laminating. They consist of both single and two-part systems for standard and high performance laminations. The coating head technology which is utilized for solventless laminating was patented in the United States in the 1930’s as the transfer roll coater. This configuration is in use today as a multi-roll coating machine for coating solventless adhesive for laminating.

Extensive control regulation is required for a properly designed system. The most important considerations are:

- Speed

- Adhesive mixing

- Tension control (of the utmost importance)

Solventless systems have many environmental and economic advantages with the finished product performance equal to the standard dry bonding systems. Considering the cost advantages and favorable environmental impact of these systems, this type of laminating will be the future technology utilized for laminating systems.