Adhesive Solutions for the Packaging Industry

Adhesive Requirements in the Packaging Industry

The packaging industry is one of the largest consumers of adhesives globally, spanning applications from corrugated carton sealing and case closing to label application, flexible packaging lamination, and decorative box assembly. The adhesive must perform reliably at high production speeds, bond to a wide range of substrates including recycled materials, and maintain seal integrity through the supply chain from factory floor to end consumer.

Packaging production in emerging markets — Africa, Southeast Asia, the Middle East, and Latin America — faces additional challenges compared to developed markets. Higher ambient humidity, temperature fluctuations in warehouses without climate control, and increasing use of recycled fiber content in corrugated board all affect adhesive performance. Packaging adhesives must be formulated to handle these real-world conditions, not just laboratory ideal scenarios.

Common adhesive challenges in packaging operations include:

• —Carton sealing failure during transit causing product damage and customer complaints
• —Adhesive stringing and nozzle clogging on high-speed packaging lines
• —Inconsistent bond quality on recycled and coated corrugated board
• —Label peeling on curved surfaces and in cold storage environments
• —Increasing demand for food-safe and recyclable adhesive solutions

Start from the packaging job, not the product list. Carton sealing on automated lines normally runs on hot melt, and corrugating uses starch — neither is in our catalogue. For cartons, paper bags, tubes, box wrapping and wet-glue labels, our water-based paper and packaging page sets out what we assess on request. Our listed products fit narrower packaging jobs: foam spray adhesive for protective foam inserts, and neoprene contact adhesive for manual specialty work where fabric, leather or foam meets rigid board.

Coating label stock, tape or protective film is a different job from sealing cartons: it uses pressure-sensitive adhesives, most often water-based acrylics, specified by face stock, final surface and whether the label or film must come off cleanly.

Find Your Packaging Process

"Packaging adhesive" covers a dozen jobs that share little beyond the word. Corrugating, case sealing, box wrapping, labelling, coating and film lamination each use a different chemistry on different equipment, and an adhesive that suits one is usually wrong for the next. Find the process you run, then check what we can supply for it.

"Not in our catalogue" means the chemistry a job normally needs is one we do not supply — we list it so you can compare properly, not to imply we sell it. "Assessed on request" means we review your materials, equipment and documentation needs before quoting, because no stock grade is listed.

Corrugating and case sealing

These two consume the highest volume of adhesive in packaging, and both are equipment-led. Corrugating runs on starch mixed and applied at the machine; case sealing on an automated line runs on EVA hot melt applied from a heated tank through nozzles. Neither is a product we supply, and a solvent-borne contact adhesive is not a substitute for either. Where cartons are closed by hand or on a slow line, a water-based PVAc or VAE adhesive is the usual answer, and that we can assess — tell us the board, including recycled content, the line speed and how the carton is stacked afterwards.

Rigid boxes, gift boxes and paper converting

Premium boxes fail on appearance before they fail on strength: the wrap wrinkles, the printed paper shows adhesive through it, or the board warps as the water leaves. What decides it is the paper and board pair, the coat weight and how the box is pressed and dried, so send those with the enquiry. Water-based paper and laminating adhesives are the usual choice on a wrapping machine and are assessed on request; for small-batch manual work where fabric, leather or foam meets rigid board, neoprene contact adhesive is a listed line.

Labelling: wet-glue and pressure-sensitive are different products

A wet-glue label is applied from a glue pot on the labeller, and the adhesive has to run on that machine, grip a wet or chilled bottle and — for returnable glass — wash off in caustic. A pressure-sensitive label arrives already coated on its face stock and liner; the adhesive decision was made by whoever coated it. If you are applying labels, tell us which of the two you run. If you are coating the label stock, that is the next section.

Coating label stock, tape and protective film

Pressure-sensitive coating is a converting process, not a packaging one: a water-based acrylic is metered onto face stock or film at a target dry coat weight, dried and wound. It is specified by face stock, the final surface, whether the label or film must come away cleanly, and the coater and oven you run. Our water-based acrylic page sets out the test methods and what to state when you enquire.

Protective foam inserts

Foam inserts for cases and cartons are bonded with spray adhesive, and the constraint is foam compatibility rather than strength: many solvents attack polystyrene, and PE or EPE foams have a low-energy surface that most adhesives will not wet. Our foam spray adhesive is formulated for PU, EVA and polystyrene boards — patch-test your own board first, and send a sample if the insert is PE or EPE.

Flexible packaging lamination

Laminating film to film or film to foil uses solventless or solvent-borne PU laminating adhesives on a laminator, with migration and cure requirements that food packs are assessed against as a finished structure. We do not supply these, and say so rather than offering a substitute: an adhesive from another process will not meet the bond or migration requirements of a laminate.

Technical Considerations