White Papers

Engineers are faced with a myriad of choices when it comes to adhesives for interior trim assemblies. Choosing the proper adhesive can be confusing considering that many different types of adhesive will work for any given application. Each different type of adhesive brings with it different processing requirements, different product handling requirements along with different assembly and end performance characteristics. Sorting through these adhesive choices and determining which process may be the best for any given application can take years of experience to understand.

Food contact articles and facilities, like cutlery, dishes, processing machines, containers and above all packaging are subject to special demands. This applies to both the processing of food and to its transport and warehousing. The term also includes materials and articles that are in contact with water intended for human consumption, but it does not cover fixed public or private water supply equipment. These articles are requested to not influence the food they contact, neither toxicologically ie, they should not cause a health threat for the end user, nor may they change the composition of the food or its properties like smell, taste and appearance. Therefore food contact articles shall not transfer their components into the foodstuff in unacceptable quantities. The first comprehensive regulatory activity for food contact materials and articles began in the late 1950s and early 1960s in the United States as well as in some European countries. Today, the regulation of food contact articles and especially packaging has become a global subject as the world's commercial channels have broadened in the last decades.

Modern packaging is an important component for the storage and distribution of all kinds of products. Next to this primary task of packaging, consumers demand more and better information about products that they buy and today packaging is responsible for marketing tasks, too. In addition to better technical solutions, a trend can be seen toward the increased importance of environmental protection in manufacturing of packaging and distributing products. As adhesives play a major role in the production of nearly all goods and especially in the production of packaging, the question of how adhesive applications influence the idea of a closed-loop economy is becoming more and more important. Adhesives are used for manufacturing as well as for finishing and closing of packaging. By the combination of different materials with selected properties an over-proportional increase in the performance can be achieved.