Technical library
Adhesive & Sealant Resources
17 reference pages and 15 technical articles, grouped by the question they answer rather than by when they were written.
Choosing between chemistries
Most bond failures start as a selection error rather than a product defect. These compare the options against each other rather than describing them one at a time.
Twelve common jobs, from HPL without a press to labels on frozen bottles: candidate systems, what rules each out, what to confirm and what to test.
- Glossary — and the other namesReference
Fifty terms with their regional and brand-derived synonyms listed first. Start here if a word in your specification does not match what suppliers call it.
Acrylic, polychloroprene, PU, PVAc and VAE compared by job, why water-based is not the same claim as low VOC, and what to recheck before switching.
- Base polymers explainedReference
The polymer families in our range, why water-based is a carrier rather than a family, and why the highest peel strength on a datasheet is often the wrong thing to select on.
- How to read a datasheetReference
Every figure we publish, what it predicts and what it does not — plus why a number without its test method cannot be compared between suppliers.
- Solvent systems and toluene-freeReference
What the solvent decides — dangerous goods class, VOC, open time and foam compatibility — and what substituting one actually changes.
- Packaging formatsReference
Tins, drums, pails, aerosols, cartridges and sausages, with metric to US conversions and why "close enough" is not.
Heat resistance, peel strength and the cost gap — and when the cheaper one is genuinely the right answer.
What changes moving off solvent — drying, heat, substrates, VOC and shipping — and the test that settles each trade-off for your job.
Cure chemistry, substrate limits and modulus. Acetoxy on metal, mirror or stone is the most expensive mistake in sealant.
Gap filling against movement accommodation. They look interchangeable in the cartridge and are not.
Where standard grades give up, what replaces them, and why a datasheet temperature is not a service temperature.
The surface preparation decides this bond. Adhesive selection is the second question, not the first.
Regulation, VOC and documentation
The destination market decides the chemistry before performance or price gets a vote. These set out which instrument applies and what clearing it costs you.
- VOC limits by marketReference
SCAQMD Rule 1168, GB 33372-2020 and what actually applies in the EU — including the instruments commonly cited by mistake. Every figure linked to its source.
- Low VOC adhesives by product lineReference
The low VOC route for contact, spray, shoe, construction and flooring adhesive, and what "zero VOC", "water-based" and "low odour" each prove.
- Low-VOC manufacturingReference
Four routes to getting under a limit, including the exempt-compound substitution that keeps solvent-borne performance under a US rule.
What to ask a supplier for, what the test report has to state, and what a compliant grade costs you in dry time.
REACH restricts substances, not total VOC. An SVHC declaration and a VOC figure answer different questions.
- Certifications and test reportsReference
ISO 9001, ISO 14001, REACH statements and SGS reports — and what each one does and does not cover.
Applying it, and storing it
The product is rarely the problem. Coat weight, timing, surface preparation and storage account for most of what comes back as a complaint.
Surface preparation through to cure, with the open-time window that causes most failures set out step by step.
- Storage and shelf lifeReference
What frost and heat do to each chemistry, how to tell a drum has gone, and why a container crossing the tropics is the hardest storage condition your adhesive will see.
Spray pattern, tack level and why overspray costs more than it looks on an open-cell substrate.
Coverage, roller pressure and the causes of blistering in service.
Which product for lasting, sole attach, insole and toe puff — they each behave differently.
Buying from China
Supplier evaluation and what importing from China involves, market by market.
- Should you source from China at all?Reference
Where the cost difference comes from, how to model landed cost, and the five cases where buying locally is the better answer.
Eight checks, a red-flag table and an enquiry you can copy — written so you can apply it to us as readily as to anyone else.
- How an OEM order actually runsReference
Eight stages from enquiry to container, what you have to provide at each, and the three places programmes stall.
- Starting your own brandReference
Seven stages including the three we have nothing to do with — labelling law being the one that most often sinks a launch.
Transit times, humidity, and the documentation the region asks for.
Container quantities, heat stability and Gulf customs documentation.
MOQ, drum formats and the practicalities of a 30-45 day sea leg.
- Ordering, shipping and termsReference
MOQ, lead time, payment terms, samples and the documentation that ships with every order.
Looking for the articles in date order?
The 15 technical guides are also listed chronologically on theguides index. This page additionally covers the 17 standalone reference pages — VOC limits, storage, certifications, supplier evaluation and terms — which are not articles and do not appear there.
Cannot find the answer here?
Send the substrate pair, the process constraint and the destination market. A technical answer is more useful to both of us than a price list, and it is what you will get.
