When laminating or wrapping profiles made of wood or wood-based materials as well as plastics and metals, manufacturers are usually facing the challenge of producing a large number of different profile geometries with consistent quality and with as little time as possible.
In profile wrapping, profiles made of wood materials or plastics or metals such as aluminium are finished with decorative foils made of plastic (PVC, polypropylene, etc.) or also paper designs and laminates. The decorative foils are bonded to the profile surface with special adhesives and then processed into the finished product. This involves an enormous range of products such as: baseboards, skirting boards, furniture elements, door frames, decorative mouldings, picture frames, drawer handles and much more. Each product has different requirements that the manufacturer must meet.
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Even if the lamination process itself seems simple at first, the key to success lies in the details. The multitude of materials used results in an infinite number of possible combinations that constantly present manufacturers with new challenges.
Paper and decorative films as well as laminates can have a material thickness that is difficult to apply to a complex profile geometry. Particularly sharp radii carry the risk of material breakage or detachment of the decorative material from the profile. At the same time, furniture designers are constantly developing new innovative colours and shapes that have to be technically implemented by the manufacturer. The end customer expects flawless product quality. High-gloss foils and super-matt surfaces, which are currently very much in vogue, can serve as an example here. These require a particularly good knowledge of the profile wrapping in order to avoid surface defects such as stripes, particle inclusions or so-called “orange peel”, which considerably impair the quality of the wrapped profile.
Hot melt adhesives are usually used for profile wrapping. These are liquefied in special melters before the adhesive is applied and then applied to the decorative material using a slot nozzle or to the substrate using a roller application. However, the various adhesives differ significantly in their product properties and should therefore be carefully selected depending on their application.
While hot-melt adhesives based on ethylene vinyl acetate (EVA) or polyolefin hot-melt adhesives have good initial adhesion, they only cure physically and can therefore be subsequently melted again with the addition of temperature. This means that there is a risk of the decorative material detaching as soon as the product is exposed to increased temperatures and high humidity. This happens especially when laminated profiles are transported in containers or trucks during the summer months and when the products are installed in kitchens or bathrooms.
However, there is an adhesive that offers maximum safety in this respect. These are reactive polyurethane hot-melt adhesives which, thanks to their chemical cross-linking, have the highest possible resistance to temperatures, water vapour and chemicals such as cleaning agents. Therefore, the use of PUR adhesives is ideal when products are destined for extreme climates such as Asia or Africa, they have long transport routes ahead of them or they are installed in kitchens or bathrooms. Profiles that have been coated with PUR adhesive have a significantly longer service life and guarantee permanent adhesion of the decorative foil even under difficult conditions. In addition, PUR adhesives are compatible with a wide variety of materials, enabling the production of a broad range.
TAKA offers various PUR adhesives for profile lamination that meet different requirements. From a universal adhesive that is particularly suitable for bonding paper decorations and plastic films (such as those made of PVC, PET, PP or PS) with a material thickness of up to 0.25mm. For thicker decorative foils as well as for veneers and for high working speeds, there is an ideal product as well as a PUR adhesive especially for bonding CPL (Continuous Pressure Laminate) for profile wrapping and postforming.
PUR adhesives also have a special application in the so-called postforming process. This involves the subsequent (post) forming of an already applied surface coating on the panels along the shaped edge. The surface material stands out over the profiled edge when laminating the material sheet and glued on in a downstream process by a postforming machine. This creates visually joint-free edges in which neither dirt nor water can collect. Postforming is therefore mainly used for products that are exposed to high levels of moisture, chemicals and mechanical stress. This applies, for example, to bathroom and kitchen furniture, worktops of laboratory equipment or reception and sales counters as well as ship furniture.
In addition to the right PUR adhesive for your particular production process, TAKA also offers expert advice as well as targeted training thanks to its in-house ACADEMY. Thus, TAKA guarantees not only outstanding PUR adhesives for profile lamination, but also for your process-reliable production with the best possible and competitive quality.
