At PACK EXPO, Henkel unveiled a first new-generation product--Liofol LA7773-21 with Liofol LA6016-21 curing agent, a two-component, solventless PUR adhesive for flexible packaging laminating. The adhesive cures to full physical and regulatory compliance levels within 48 hours and is very stable. It is engineered to have long pot life and be easy to use and work with.

Apicella goes on to say: "While we strongly advise users to maintain suggested mix ratios, we are aware that it is quite common that operations are faced with off-ratio adhesive situations resulting from various influencing factors," remarks Doug Apicella, director, flexible packaging marketing, Henkel North America. "This new generation is less sensitive to off-ratio conditions and maintains performance characteristics for various applications. This provides a major opportunity to reduce film scrap due to processing issues. Coupled with the fact that this is solventless, is 100 percent solid and has a low carbon footprint, makes it an ideal candidate for many applications where improved sustainability is desired."

According to Guido Kollbach, technical director, flexible packaging, Henkel North America, the adhesive is designed especially for standard- to medium-performance laminations. It can be used for food packaging laminations, as well as health care, pharmaceutical and cosmetic applications. "It is an easy-processing system that achieves physical and chemical cure quickly. This is of importance especially if the converter's production runs on a tight schedule that does not allow for any mistakes." Kollbach says. "In fact, the laminate normally can be slit within six hours and pouched with zipper insertion in 24 hours if cured at room temperature. We have tested LA7773-21/LA6016-21 very critically together with our OEM partners from Nordmeccanica."

Rafael Acosta, North America service manager of Nordmeccanica said, "The new Henkel adhesive has excellent wettability, and its pot-life is impressive. While other adhesives require the operator to clean the machine after 30 minutes of down time, this adhesive performed well even after an hour. Plus, after running the adhesive for an extended period, the machine was very easy to clean."