2024 Submissions
3M Company
Technology: Novel Filament Form Factor
Adhesive for Automated Bonding
In 2022, 3M’s Industrial Adhesives and Tapes Division (IATD) launched into the market 3MTM VHBTM Extrudable Tape, a new-to-the-world bonding solution that brings elevated levels of automation, simplicity, and sustainability across multiple industries. 3M™ VHB™ Extrudable Tape combines the best qualities of high strength foam tape with the versatility of liquid adhesives without any of their inherent drawbacks. While liquid adhesives offer excellent versatility for many applications, they can be messy, difficult to handle, increase waste, and require long curing times, all factors that increase manufacturing time and overall costs. In contrast, the 3M™ On Demand Bonding System -- designed to work with the Nordson® ProBond™ System -- eliminates liners and container waste while providing immediate material bonding and handling strength. These benefits help significantly streamline, simplify, and speed up production operations. 3MTM VHBTM Extrudable Tape provides excellent adhesion to many substrates – in some cases with little or no surface preparation – and has a stretch release feature that allows clean adhesive removal for reworkability of parts.
Bostik
Technology: Copolyester Based
Compostable Cold Seal for Heat Sensitive
Packaging: Turbo-Seal® LOOP 1.0
To be durable, a product must not only be manufactured in a scalable way to ensure affordability, but also must be able to withstand a variety of usages and environments to enable appropriate product life. Adhesives are an
extremely attractive approach to manufacturing due to their ease of use on large areas, minimal footprint for low profile items, and inherent longlife utility in joining items together. The textile and consumer electronics worlds have merged in the form of smart speakers with fabric coverings (i.e., Google Nest Mini or Amazon Echo) and slim keyboards (i.e., Apple iPad or Microsoft Surface keyboards). These products are now covered in microfiber and nylon materials to make them more aesthetically compatible with traditional home textiles. With this change, manufacturers have transitioned away from the use of mechanical fastening in favor of using adhesives. Unfortunately, this is diametrically opposed to the desire to reclaim and reuse materials. In high-end consumer electronic devices, the components buried inside have significant recycling value, but are not accessible due to the adhesives implemented. Currently, product designers and developers have no readily available adhesive toolbox to implement commonly accepted Design for Disassembly principles.
A Debondable Adhesive imparts the ability of easy and damage-free removal, simplifying the disassembly and recycling process, which reduces waste and lowers costs for recycling and disposal. The reclamation of used products to be transformed into valuable precursor materials would aid the apparel industry, consumer electronics and the renewable energy sector.
Our patent was granted in October of 2023 and articulates the implementation of DielsAlder chemistry to provide reversibility and eliminate creep behavior that has plagued previous systems based on similar chemistry. We have demonstrated the viability of the synthetic pathway and its adaptability to existing formulations while garnering the attention of major chemical companies and adhesive manufacturers.
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Geisys Ventures, LLC
Technology: D-Glue – A debondable adhesive platform
To be durable, a product must not only be manufactured in a scalable way to ensure affordability, but also must be able to withstand a variety of usages and environments to enable appropriate product life. Adhesives are an extremely attractive approach to manufacturing due to their ease of use on large areas, minimal footprint for low profile items, and inherent longlife utility in joining items together. The textile and consumer electronics worlds have merged in the form of smart speakers with fabric coverings (i.e., Google Nest Mini or Amazon Echo) and slim keyboards (i.e., Apple iPad or Microsoft Surface keyboards). These products are now covered in microfiber and nylon materials to make them more aesthetically compatible with traditional home textiles. With this change, manufacturers have transitioned away from the use of mechanical fastening in favor of using adhesives. Unfortunately, this is diametrically opposed to the desire to reclaim and reuse materials. In high-end consumer electronic devices, the components buried inside have significant recycling value, but are not accessible due to the adhesives implemented. Currently, product designers and developers have no readily available adhesive toolbox to implement commonly accepted Design for Disassembly principles.
A Debondable Adhesive imparts the ability of easy and damage-free removal, simplifying the disassembly and recycling process, which reduces waste and lowers costs for recycling and disposal. The reclamation of used products to be transformed into valuable precursor materials would aid the apparel industry, consumer electronics and the renewable energy sector.
Our patent was granted in October of 2023 and articulates the implementation of DielsAlder chemistry to provide reversibility and eliminate creep behavior that has plagued previous systems based on similar chemistry.
We have demonstrated the viability of the synthetic pathway and its adaptability to existing formulations while garnering the attention of major chemical companies and adhesive manufacturers.
H.B. Fuller Technology: Thermoplastic Encapsulant Platform for Photovoltaic Modules
Demand for clean energy is growing at a staggering rate as the effects of climate change become more apparent, and yet this demand must be balanced with low electricity generation costs. In recent years, the levelized costs of electricity (LCOE) of photovoltaic (PV) power has fallen to commercially viable levels, and as a result, the demand has skyrocketed.
Thin-film (TF) solar modules have grown in popularity due to lower LCOE. These modules have very different manufacturing processes and performance requirements than traditional crystalline silicon (c-Si) modules. As a result, this PV sub-market requires innovative and costcompetitive materials to meet demands of the technology. H.B. Fuller took the challenge headon and developed the patented thermoplastic PV encapsulant (TPx) platform to better serve the needs and advance the TF PV industry.
H.B. Fuller’s TPx platform enables lower LCOE and supply chain versatility while ensuring the critical performance requirements for thin-film modules by leveraging underutilized raw material feedstreams. The innovation team evaluated the benefits and challenges associated with current technologies such as EVA, POE, and silicone, and identified a polymer platform that balances cost and supply with key technical parameters such as flow during processing and module fabrication, low moisture vapor transmission, high electrical resistance, and resilience to environmental conditions.
One of the key parameters in the development of this platform is the optimization of the material’s rheological behavior. The rheology of a hot melt
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adhesive, used as a PV encapsulant, plays a critical role in ensuring the proper production, shipment, vacuum lamination, and 25+ year performance of the PV module. Through thoughtful experimentation and innovation with new-to-PV materials, the TPx team found the correct formulation space, comprised of a blend of polymers and functional additives, that provides thin-film manufacturers with a cost competitive high-performance product that can also support future module developments.
Technology: Open Sesame® AdhesiveCoated Fiber-Based E-Commerce Tear Tape, 2021
H.B. Fuller expert engineers designed Open Sesame® adhesive-coated fiber-based e-commerce opening tear tapes to provide frustration-free opening on e-commerce packages. The award-winning, innovative, and global patent-pending tear tape clearly stands out, as it is a adhesive-coated fiber-based tear tape that may add fiber to the recycling stream, unlike the standard plastic technology on the market. With more than 80% of bio-based material and less than two percent plastic, this solution dramatically reduces the use of singleuse plastic, along with being made of a substrate that is also responsibly sourced and sustainably sourced certified by FSC (Forest Stewardship Council). This solution is one design in a series of adhesive-coated tapes for plastic reduction to perform in many different scenarios.
Sustainable packaging designs and materials are top of mind for consumers, brand companies, OEMs and packaging makers. In fact, with the accelerated growth rate of online shopping comes the looming reality of dealing with an increased amount of packaging waste and tough issues to solve related to recycling or finding other alternatives to plastic. Various adhesive-coated tear tapes on the market used in e-commerce packaging today do not completely break down in the recycling process of corrugated or folding cartons.
Open Sesame prioritizes sustainability, while maintaining a thrilling consumer “unboxing experience” of everyday packages used to ship goods from e-tailer to consumer. Our solution is suitable for most paper bags, folding carton mailers up to and including 18 pt., and singlewall lightweight corrugated boxes.
H.B. Fuller received the Sustainability Award for Open Sesame at the European Federation of Corrugated Board Manufacturers (FEFCO) technical seminar, where the product officially launched. H.B. Fuller was the only recipient in this category in 2021. The launch caught the attention of Packaging Europe and Open Sesame was discussed in “A Sustainable Future for Packaging” in Volume 16.6.
Technology: Swift®melt 1838
E-Commerce Closing Release Liner Pressure Sensitive Adhesive, 2021
H.B. Fuller expert scientists designed Swift®melt 1838 pressure sensitive hot melt adhesive to solve a common problem experienced by e-tailers on their e-commerce fiber-based packaging such as mailer envelopes or corrugated boxes. Consumers frequently encounter issues of poorly bonded package closures that travel across the harsh e-commerce supply chain, which can lead to consumer complaints and queries over missing order items costing e-tailers time, money, and reputation.
The objective was to provide an easy-touse package sealing adhesive that would consistently provide a secure and tamper evident bond under the temperature and condition extremes frequently experienced throughout the e-commerce supply chain. The adhesive needed to be applied through existing application equipment, so thermoplastic hot melt was the only technology we could consider.
Collaborating with key European customers, our team of scientists and our expert e-commerce engineers worked tirelessly to develop a robust
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adhesive solution that met the customers’ needs for a secure package sealing experience. H.B.
Fuller invested thousands of hours testing the performance of Swift®melt 1838 on hundreds of paper and cardboard substrates. Through this collaboration, we illustrated how Swift®melt 1838 has superior fiber tear over competitors for paper-based mailers exposed to 5°C to 40°C temperature, and superior shear strength on corrugated boxes to ensure packaging integrity during shipment to the end consumer.
Tamper evident packaging is an important need for consumers, brand companies, e-tailers and packaging makers. In fact, with the accelerated growth rate of online shopping comes the looming reality of dealing with an increased number of consumer complaints for missing items. Swift®melt 1838 prioritizes bond security and package integrity of everyday packages used to ship goods from e-tailer to consumer. Our solution is suitable for most paper bags, paper envelopes, folding carton mailers, and single-wall lightweight corrugated boxes.
Hauschild SpeedMixer Inc.
Technology: Hauschild SpeedMixer®SMART DAC
Since the Hauschild SpeedMixer® was introduced in 1974, it has been accelerating R&D, QC, & specialty production processes and improving safety & quality of life labs worldwide. The technology is widely known throughout the Adhesives and Sealants industries for its ability to simultaneously mix and deair/degas materials in minutes rather than hours. In industries where the products are designed to be sticky and robust, the fact that this technology can repeatably produce perfectly homogeneous samples in disposable containers with no cleanup required is a huge advantage. The engineering team at Hauschild GmbH is the source of many innovations in their technology such as increased payload, disposable mixing containers, larger volume capacity, “LR” geometry, robotic & robotic
vacuum Hauschild SpeedMixer® equipment and hundreds of customized solutions. Though each of these innovations represent a major advancement in Hauschild’s technology, the need to expand capabilities and gather more data is always present.
The SMART DAC not only contains an abundance of innovative new features designed to address modern material processing requirements, but it will also serve as a platform for future expansions in capabilities, controls, connectivity, and data acquisition. New SMART DAC features include variable counterrotation, live temperature measurement & control, active cooling, increased (and decreased) power & run-time, stroboscopic process monitoring, improved programmability & user management and more.
Henkel
Technology: Capillary Underfill for 3nm and 5nm Si wafer node semiconductor packages
Capillary Underfill (CUF) is an established technique for encapsulating electrically conductive connections within a flip-chip semiconductor package. Henkel has a strong CUF product portfolio for assembly processes for consumer electronic device products in the market (e.g. cell phones). But, for more technically challenging semiconductor-level processes which entail smaller adhesive bond line gaps, tighter pitch between electrically active solder joints, higher reliability, and other requirements to build the device, Henkel’s portfolio has needed new development to win market opportunities in semiconductor packaging. One open opportunity needing new solutions to achieve the customers’ goal is in advanced Si-node devices for mobile application processors. Advanced silicon node broadly refers to 5nm, 3nm, 2nm Si-wafer fabrication processes for the next generation of semiconductor packaging following the Moore’s law trend and provided new levels of chip performance.
In this project, Henkel utilized new techniques and chemistry technology to deliver a new base CUF material to the market. The product, UF9000AG, was qualified first for 5nm and more recently for 3nm devices—a new paradigm product for Henkel. The new techniques utilized to deliver such a product was the combined use of the digital platform, Albert, and leveraging experience from Henkel’s assembly level CUF portfolio. As a result, the UF9000AG project was delivered from creation to launch in ~40% less time than similar projects and beating competitor attempts to keep pace with Henkel.
Synthomer
Technology: A Versatile Polyolefin Copolymer with Excellent Processability
Imparts Superior Performance in Various Applications
The newly developed copolymer is considered versatile because of its ability for formulation simplicity. This implies ‘performance compatibility’ with many supporting ingredients. The copolymer is also highly amorphous, yet processability/sprayability is excellent. The in-line challenges often faced with highly amorphous polymers is non-existent, yet performance is not sacrificed. end-user performance challenges often is experienced in either poor initial or aged peels, or high VOCs, or yellowing, or poor bonding to LSEs. These challenges are resolved with our new amorphous copolymer. Additionally, the copolymer can achieve these goals as a nonreactive polymer, making bonds reversible.
University of Houston
Technology: Research on Soy Protein as Curative for Structural Epoxy Adhesives
This self-initiated project endeavors to explore a viable approach to utilize soy protein as a curative in the development of structural adhesives. The primary milestone is to formulate adhesives with a lap shear strength exceeding 1000 psi, a widely accepted criterion for structural adhesives, solely relying on soy protein as the curative. For context, the shear strength of current protein/epoxy adhesives typically falls within the range of 200 psi to 400 psi.
Starting in June 2023, this project successfully achieved its primary goal of surpassing the 1000 psi lap shear strength mark in early January 2024.
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