QUESTION: We would like to get some of our sealants approved for drinking water applications. How can we do this?

As a member company of the AISIN Group, Aisin Chemical contributes to the automotive industry by developing and producing chemicals, friction materials and plastic parts. Aisin Chemical specializes in adhesives, coatings, and friction materials for transmissions and brake pads.

The world continues to embrace initiatives fostering more environmentally friendly “green” processes, and the converting industry is not exempt from this pursuit. All aspects of the converting process are being scrutinized, including the need to make the adhesives and sealants component of converting more environmentally friendly.

If anything bothers University of Virginia physicist Lou Bloomfield, it’s a wobbly table. So much so that he actually invented a material to eliminate the problem. The material, a type of silicone rubber that is both rigid and fluid—a “viscoelastic” solid—can be placed under a table leg where it conforms to the shape of the leg bottom and the floor surface, perfectly filling the gap.

The adhesives and sealants industry has long played an important role in the manufacture of dental equipment. The use of strong-bonding adhesives has enabled A-dec, Inc., one of the largest dental equipment manufacturers in the world, to assemble various components reliably and economically.