HERMA Self-adhesive materials division expands speciality product range

HERMA Self-adhesive Materials division expands speciality product range:

Effective seal promotes cleanliness

• HERMA's new 52C adhesive was developed specifically for the labels that are used to seal wet wipe pouches and other critical products.
• Thanks to a combination of attributes that is thought to be unparalleled, printers and users no longer have to accept any compromises as regards either functionality or appearance.
• Grade 52C puts an end to the clouding that can be triggered by oil and cleaning agents.

Practical and very popular, sealing labels have to satisfy highly diverse and sometimes conflicting requirements. Seeking to find the best possible formulation to meet these needs, HERMA has now originated the new adhesive 52C. This UV-reticulating acrylate contact adhesive (UVA) is suitable for use with a wide variety of packaging materials. It is compatible with a range of applications that present special challenges, such as wet wipes, in which oils and cleaning agents play a critical role, and does not require users to accept any compromises as regards either functionality or appearance. "The combination of properties it offers is probably unique," comments Dr. Ulli Nägele, HERMA's head of development. "We are in a position to develop these characteristics thanks to the massive investments we have made recently in the production technology for speciality products of this kind."

Absolutely migration-safe
The semi-permanent UVA 52C was developed primarily for the sealing labels applied to wet wipe pouches. It is eminently suitable, however, for both dry and moist surfaces. It does not become cloudy in contact with oil, water, solvents or cleaning agents, so that the sealing label retains its attractive appearance. In clear-on-clear applications, the adhesive remains highly transparent even after repeated peeling. It is also characterised by especially consistent, smooth and silent peeling in conjunction with most plastic surfaces and films. At the same time, its very high cohesion prevents the formation of unsightly strands. The adhesive resists the elastic forces encountered with curved surfaces, such as those often incorporated in the design of flexible packaging for wet wipes. To ensure that the labels retain their benefits for the entire life of the packaging, the 52C grade offers especially good resistance to light, heat, water and ageing. As an absolutely migration-safe adhesive, it has also been unconditionally approved for direct food contact. The new adhesive 52C is most effective in combination with the label film HERMA PP transparent tc (980).

HERMA was the first adhesive materials producer to bring a UVA adhesive to the market and has since used it as the springboard for a series of innovative products. For the purpose of producing the 52C grade and other speciality products, HERMA recently retrofitted a special, precision-dosing rotating bar nozzle to an existing coating plant for UVAs. The nozzle applies the adhesive within extremely small weight tolerances to achieve an ultra-smooth finish, even with high grammages. "Special labels are a very lucrative business for printers, but the results depend entirely on the selected adhesive material. As ever, HERMA makes an unqualified quality pledge in this respect," insists HERMA managing director Dr. Thomas Baumgärtner.