Armacell’s Component Foam division’s products, which includes elastomeric and polyolefin materials produced in extruded tubes, profiles, sheets, rolls, and buns, were the latest products used in the ongoing Avery Dennison Performance Tape series of studies aimed at finding the right match between adhesive tapes and materials. To do so, these studies determine the performance of its Core Series Portfolio adhesive products when applied to bonding different forms of foams and felts manufactured by different companies.
Avery Dennison reports that the studies focus particularly on finding the right match for applications in the construction, packaging, industrial, medical, automotive and aerospace sectors. This made Armacell’s range of component foams the ideal subjects in a study aimed at determining the level of performance (good, better and best) of Avery Dennison’s various adhesive families when used to bond different materials with different characteristics. Factors taken into account include material thicknesses, different adhesive mass and pressure, compression, lamination speed and temperature, which can affect their functionality under extreme real-world conditions or in a controlled environment.
To carry out the study, Avery Dennison reports that their adhesive products, backed with a PET film 2mil thick and trimmed to one inch in width, and two sample sets were laminated onto Armacell component foams. Various factors such as the base polymer, its thickness, and its cell type affect foam bonding, as do adhesive mass, pressure, compression as well as the lamination speed and temperature. All samples were tested at 180° Peel Adhesion at 12 in/min.
While the sample sets were identical in terms of compression (30% in either set), the psi and fpm (both 20), and in the 72hrs both required to recover after lamination at room temperature. What did differentiate between the two sample sets was that while Set 1 was laminated at room temperature, Set 2 was laminated at 220°F. According to the company, the study determined the 220°F heat lamination to be beneficial.