Adhesives to Create Disposable Hygiene Products

There are many applications of adhesives in the textile space, some more obvious or better known than others. A quite interesting and dynamic textile application is the use of adhesives to create disposable hygiene products.

The disposable hygiene segment is divided into three sub-segments: Adult Care, Baby Care and Feminine Care. Adhesives are used to construct the diaper, create stretch features, indicate wetness, and hold in the place the elastic strands.

The use of adhesives in disposable hygiene goes back to the 1960s. The application of adhesives to hold in elastic strands goes back to the 1970s. Until recently, developments around elastic attachment adhesives have centred around the fundamental function – how well the adhesive hold the elastic strand in place.   

In late 2016, Bostik launched a new elastic attachment adhesive that does much more than just hold the elastic strand in place.

Brilliance™ is the world’s first high-performance polyolefin based elastic attachment adhesive. Brilliance is a major technological leap forward in the use of polyolefins in high-stress hot melt adhesive applications such as holding elastic strands in place in diapers and adult incontinence articles, a critical application in the function and fit of the products.

In the past, adhesives based on polyolefin chemistry were limited to low-stress applications due to performance and processing drawbacks. Through the leveraging of material science, Bostik has developed an adhesive that not only eliminates these trade offs but also outperforms traditional SBC-based elastic attachment technology.

New advances in metallocene polyolefin technology combined with Bostik’s expertise in material science, modelling, and formulations have allowed Bostik to break this paradigm and create a formulation that is a unique first in the industry.  Critical to the success was not only the strong understanding of structure-property relationships of the polymers involved but also deep knowledge of the application process to optimise the process technology as well.

Traditionally, a change in substrates, elastics, application equipment, or line speed often resulted in unintended changes in adhesive performance. Brilliance™ combines best-in-class performance with greatly expanded benefits over traditional technologies, including increased production flexibility over a wide spectrum of substrates, line speeds and application methods.

Brilliance enables:

Broadened substrate and elastic supplier choices including consistent performance across various:

> Elastics

> Substrates

> Application heads

> Line speeds

Reduction or elimination of bleed through Consistent performance across lines and equipment Using the same adhesive for both elastic and high-stress applications Unmatched shear performance Reduced product odour Excellent cost in use

Extensive testing and evaluation have confirmed the performance and processability of Brilliance both on coating assets as well as live production lines. These results include consistent performance across a wide variety of substrates, elastics, application nozzles and application temperatures as well as reduced odour and adhesive usage (add on). In addition, Brilliance offers unmatched performance in the toughest high-stress applications.