The company said that the new adhesive, the Mor-Free L75-164, is used in making flexible packaging laminations, which are used by the food packager as either pre-made pouches or as roll stock.
The company's Mor-Free solventless adhesives have been formulated to reduce the risks associated with aromatic amine formation, and provide strong bonds on all substrate types, including metallised films and aluminium foils.
Fast cure
Nancy Smith, commercial development manager, Rohm and Haas, told FoodProductionDaily.com that a key advantage of the new adhesive is that it has fast cure at ambient temperatures for further processing of the laminate.
It is important that laminating adhesives are fully cured before food contact is allowed, as uncured adhesive could 'ooze' from the cut end of the laminate and contaminate the food.
“The fact that it fully cures free of any primary aromatic amine (PAAs) in three days and complies with Food and Drug Administration (FDA) regulations regarding adhesives (21CFR 175.105) and laminates used at 120- 250° F (49°C-120°C) is unique for solventless laminating adhesives,” said Smith.
She said that the L75-164 is a polyurethane adhesive and can be used with packaging for products such as dry foods, meat and cheese.
Hot fill usage
An added benefit of the adhesive, according to Smith, is that it enables the production of laminations for hot fill applications.
“It can be used for packaging food items such as juices and sauces or with microwaveable vegetable packaging where food is heated up to 250°F (120°C),” explained Smith.
She claims that as the adhesive allows for greater efficiencies in production of the flexible packaging materials by converters, this should translate into advantages for food packaging companies, primarily in the form of shorter lead times and lower inventory levels.
Rigourous testing
Smith said the adhesive has undergone thorough analysis: “We tested this adhesive on a wide variety of films and ran bond aging, moisture resistance and foodstuff exposure studies.
“We also did an exhaustive study of its chemical curing properties and ran a full array of extraction studies to achieve compliance with the FDA regulations and European Union regulations for PAAs.”
Smith explained that currently the new adhesive is only available in the US market.