Henkel shows latest innovations at the Drupa 2012 fair

Henkel will be showcasing its complete portfolio of products and technologies for the printing and packaging industries at Drupa 2012 from May 3 – 16 in Düsseldorf. The global leader in adhesives, sealants and surface treatments will be presenting innovations ranging from an automatic monitoring system for spine gluing in bookbinding machines and especially eco-sustainable laminating adhesives to Low Migration effect coatings that give food packages a brilliant metallic gloss.

The focus this year will be on sustainable and environmentally compatible adhesives and technologies. With the innovations presented at Drupa, customers will have an even wider choice of Henkel products allowing them to save energy and materials as well as improving working conditions for their employees and enhancing end product safety.

PUR hotmelts for a safer working environment and higher efficiency
At Drupa, Henkel is presenting improved products for spine binding as well as emission-reduced PUR hotmelts for side gluing and endpapering. By using emission-reduced PUR hotmelts, a growing number of bookbinders are creating a safer working environment on the shop floor. To help them do so, Henkel offers its Purmelt MicroEmission series – a trusted range of PUR hotmelts that are exempt from hazard labeling.

The latest development in this product line is Purmelt MicroEmission Cool 3400 with an application temperature much lower than that of standard products. This reduces energy consumption and significantly speeds up processes while improving occupational safety at the same time. The result is an extremely strong bond and reliable processing even with low adhesive usage. The portfolio now also includes a Cool variety of the Purmelt QR series. With the ME and QR versions, the application temperature can be reduced from 120 to 130°C to as low as 99°C with no loss of performance.

Top quality thanks to automatic monitoring with Sm@rt Control
For high-performance spine gluing of books and brochures, precise application of the adhesive is absolutely essential. Any errors at this stage in the bookbinding machine can rapidly lead to several thousand rejects. At Drupa, Henkel will be showcasing the Sm@rt Control monitoring system that allows users to detect production errors instantly. Sm@rt Control is a camera monitoring system that can be retrofitted to existing bookbinding machines in addition to being incorporated in new ones. The core of the system is a thermal camera which continuously transmits images of the gluing process to a linked-up computer.

The image of each single copy is then analysed by the computer to check the quality of the glue line. If errors are detected, Sm@rt Control immediately triggers an alarm, allowing intervention before large numbers of rejects can accumulate. The monitoring system can detect not only area failure in the glue line, but also gaps in the film caused by partially blocked doctor blades or nozzles, which can have especially serious consequences.

Henkel develops adhesives for print-on-demand suppliers
Digital printing is booming. Books on demand, photo books, doctoral theses or small print runs of catalogs and company brochures are increasingly being produced digitally rather than by classic offset printing. Henkel has put together a complete product range of Purmelt, Technomelt and Adhesive brand bookbinding adhesives to meet the specific needs of this sector.

When binding digitally printed books and catalogs, the adhesive used is often exposed to different conditions than in traditional bookbinding. The print runs are considerably smaller so that the machines run for shorter times and can then remain idle for long periods. The adhesive used should be adapted to these special conditions. Henkel’s specialty adhesives therefore have high thermal stability and a constant viscosity even after many or prolonged heating operations. They can also be used with different kinds of paper materials. The adhesives will also run on very small and slow binding machines such as those commonly used by print-on-demand suppliers.

Aerated adhesive speeds up processing
Henkel will also be presenting new technologies for laminating at Drupa. The innovative Aerobond system from Henkel significantly speeds up laminating processes in the paper and woodworking industry while improving their efficiency at the same time. Together with the Hansa Mixer company from Bremen, Henkel has developed a system solution for the aeration of laminating adhesives that enables clean machining even at high production speeds.

The Aerobond system incorporates a laminating adhesive and the Glue-Mix unit from Hansa, a device designed to match the specially developed Henkel adhesive, which introduces controlled quantities of air into the adhesive and distributes it optimally over the substrate surface. This application considerably increases the volume of the adhesive, so that significantly less adhesive is used for the same laminating area.

Adhesin adhesives for low migration consumer goods packages
Since 2011, packages for food have been subjected to even more stringent regulations than ever. They are governed by legislation such as the European regulation on plastic materials, which specifies limits for migration of ingredients into packaged foods. In order to ensure that practically no substances can migrate from the adhesive to the food, Henkel is now offering Low Migration versions of its well-known water-based adhesives under the Adhesin brand.

To ensure the maximum possible safety, Henkel has now added a complete low migration product line to its proven portfolio of Adhesin adhesives. Dedicated product variants are available for different application systems, such as rollers and nozzles. Furthermore, Adhesin Low Migration products are also highly economical to use.

Innovative Liofol adhesives for flexible packaging
Henkel also has new solutions in store for flexible packaging at the world’s leading print fair. To meet the needs of this sector, Henkel has expanded its product portfolio by adding a new solvent-free Liofol brand laminating adhesive based on renewable raw materials that makes it ideal for biofilms. In addition, Henkel is presenting two solvent-free and TDI-free laminating systems with a long pot life.

The two new TDI-free products in Henkel’s portfolio of solvent-free two-component laminating adhesives make a significant contribution to improving safety in use. The new Liofol laminating adhesives exhibit very good wetting behaviour, which results in excellent laminate appearance. Moreover, the two systems have a long workability time of up to 60min. Even after longer downtimes due to cleaning or resetting of the machine or a switch in film/foil materials, the adhesive will remain workable within the stated time. The long pot life helps to reduce material usage as it allows work to be carried out on the machine without needing to fear that the adhesive will have become unusable when production is resumed.

Silane-free adhesion promoter for enhanced resistance to package contents
Aggressive filling goods pose a special challenge when manufacturing flexible packages. For such applications, Henkel has developed two new solvent-free two-component adhesives under its Liofol brand. The hardener used here contains an adhesion promoter that gives the flexible packaging an extremely high chemical resistance. Both of these laminating adhesive systems provided enhanced resistance especially to strongly acidic package contents.

MiraFoil. Sustainable finishing with glamour factor
With its new approach for finishing of packages, Henkel’s MiraFoil effect coating delivers convincing results. The environmentally compatible metallic effect UV coating not only offers designers immense scope for creativity but also delivers clear advantages over traditional technologies in terms of sustainability and economy.

Even during application, MiraFoil already demonstrates its sustainability strengths in terms of resource conservation. In offset or flexo printing processes and flatbed or rotary screen printing and with appropriate machine configurations, the coating can be applied inline just like standard UV coatings. This eliminates the effort required for hot or cold foil stamping – the extra work step, transporting of materials, and the time involved. Another plus is MiraFoil’s stability. Since the effect coating neither foams nor thickens, it can be left in the machine circuits for several days. It is also possible to pump the remaining coating out of the coater for later use, which means there are no material rejects. The latest development in the MiraFoil product portfolio is the low migration variety which can also be used for packaging in the food industry.

Repositionable adhesives with high final bond strength
Adhesive tapes and sophisticated labels for upmarket consumer goods demand innovative adhesives, and Henkel has developed a comprehensive portfolio to meet such needs. At Drupa, Henkel is presenting its new PSA adhesive Duro-Tak 3214, which is initially removable and permits repositioning before achieving its final, permanent bond strength. Its ease of use facilitates the large-area application of adhesive tapes and graphics films without loss of material, and even to surfaces that are very difficult to bond. Duro-Tak 3214 can be applied with conventional application equipment and enables the production of high-grade laminates with even better performance.

The adhesives based on solvent acrylics are known for their versatility, strength and resistance to all forms of weathering and to chemical aggression. They can be used among other things for sticking advertising graphics films to buses and decorative films to cars.

Henkel stand in Hall 14 / B04
More information on these innovations and Henkel’s product portfolio can be found in Hall 14 at stand B04. Experts on all areas will be available every day of the fair to discuss all innovations with customers and other interested parties from the printing and packaging industries.