Apollo Adhesives has developed a two-part, polyurethane adhesive that has a quick tack - fast cure quality, enabling customers to accelerate production time and reduce costs.
Fastack adhesive enables continual uninterrupted production lines for binding panels in a variety of applications.
Warming to the idea
The Polyfoam division of Knauf Insulation first approached Apollo 14 months ago, to request assistance with a specialist project. The project the company was faced with required the bonding of two pieces of insulation panel to make a composite panel required for a particular customer.
After careful consultation, Apollo suggested that Knauf use the newly developed Fastack. This is easily applied using special spray equipment. The panel is then fed through a pinch roller, after which the adhesive quickly cures to form an extremely strong bond.
Polyfoam was able to produce the required composite panel from its own premises.
Mark Thompson, Knauf's foam market development manager says: 'We chose the Fastack product because it provided us with the facility to produce the required composite panels at a quality, rate and cost that was right.
The real benefit came when we realised that the machinery, and in particular the adhesive, is extremely compatible with our material. As a result we have discovered many more uses for it.
'This has been of great importance for us, because being able to provide composite and secondary manufactured panels increases our versatility as a specialist supplier of board insulation, enabling us to develop more bespoke solutions to solve specific market and customer needs.
'Apollo has been a supplier to Knauf in the past and was the obvious choice for the specific project we had in mind. The company's technical knowledge was extremely helpful ' it was also ahead of the game in understanding what the project required, and had the necessary capacity to delivery.
A sticky start
Fastack was originally launched to counteract some of the problems caused by traditional polyurethane adhesives when used in the composite panel market.
Although more effective as a tough, heat-resistant elastomeric bond than most other types of adhesive, original polyurethane adhesives had two fundamental issues for manufacturers.
The first was an environmental issue - up to 50% of the adhesive contained organic solvent, which was released into the atmosphere during application. This had a detrimental effect on the environment.
The second problem was that once the adhesive was applied to the panels, they had to be held under pressure for anything up to two hours while the adhesive cured.
This meant manufacturers needed to allow for curing time which slowed production and backlogged assembly lines.
In the early 1990s, Apollo developed a solvent-free, sprayable polyurethane adhesive which solved some very crucial environmental issues. The company was accredited with ISO 14001 in 2001.
With the environment issue solved, Apollo turned its attention to the problem customers were having with production efficiency.
Ian Cornelius, Apollo's sales manager, says: 'Fastack was a long-awaited solution for many of our customers. It is unique in its exceptionally fast initial tackiness and rapid cure.
'Manufacturers are able to keep production lines running, because once panels are passed through a pinch roller they are immediately stuck, and the panel can then be processed without the time consuming pressing phase.'
Innovative adhesives
Apollo Adhesives, based in Tamworth, Staffordshire, was established in 1972 and has over 30 years' experience in the development and manufacture of industrial adhesives, sealants and binding systems for both advanced technology and traditional applications.
Apollo nurtures close working relationships with customers to develop products that will solve problems. It prides itself on commitment, understanding the needs of the customer and strives for long term partnerships.
The company recognises that the real benefits for customers come from providing them with innovative products that offer production and efficiency savings, which far outweigh savings in adhesive cost alone.
Apollo, says Mr Cornelius, believes that simply cutting the cost of its products does not help the customer in the long term.
Instead, it provides them with leading edge technologies that solve production problems as a way of helping customers maximise turnover the profitability.
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