Adhesives have become prevalent in solar applications to replace mechanical fasteners and welding.

Ultraviolet (UV) light-emitting diode (LED) curing technology has been adopted for adhesive bonding, sealant, and coating processes in factory assembly lines throughout the world.

Two of the biggest challenges facing the global adhesives and sealants market today are meeting consumer preferences for sustainable packaging and aligning with the industry’s increasing regulatory demands, especially when it comes to food applications.

Pressure-sensitive glazing tapes form a bond and seal between an insulated glass unit (IGU) and a framing system, window sash, or door. The term “glazing tape” is used throughout the residential and commercial fenestration industries but can mean different types of products to different end users.

Today’s urethane product formulators need to meet a wide range of consumer and regulatory requirements. As premium chemistries, reactive adhesives and sealants must be compliant, have good safety and sustainability profiles, and perform exceptionally.

As a vital industrial link between a turbulent oil and gas market and changing consumer needs, the chemical industry has been tested by the COVID-19 pandemic.

By any measure, 2020 has been a difficult year. Indeed, for some, it’s been truly catastrophic. Despite all of the challenges and losses, though, good things have still managed to occur.

Polyureas have a lot of similarity to polyurethanes, but they are two-component systems based on reacting an isocyanate with a multifunctional amine rather than with a polyol. This chemical reaction is extremely fast, quite often just a few seconds.

Sustainability is an ever-present driver for new products and applications. In pressure-sensitive adhesives (PSAs), sustainability is sometimes an underlying influence in the move from solvent- to emulsion-based products. This is not an option for all applications, however, as solvent-based PSAs give increased performance and processability compared to emulsion PSAs.

In years past, if you wanted to protect, ship, and sell your product, you put it in a can, bottle, or box. Today, packaging comes in all different forms, types, shapes, and sizes. While the options are not necessarily endless, packaging design is limited only by imagination and requirements.