Thermal characterization of three-component blends for hot-melt adhesives

Traditional solvent-based adhesives used in the foot-wear industry have bee n demonstrated as harmful to the workers' health and environment. Solvent-f ree three-component adhesives (hot-melt adhesives or HMAs) for various appl ications including the leather and footwear industry are becoming more and more attractive. Thus, the formulation of a three-component HMA was realize d in this study. Thermogravimetry, differential scanning calorimetry, and t he apparent strength of the adhesive bond were used to investigate the rela tionship between their properties and the polymer/wax/resin compositions. T he thermal stability of HMA formulations was determined and compared with t hermal traces based on an additive weight computation of the single compone nts' thermal profiles. All HMA formulations showed a direct relationship be tween the glass-transition temperature and the apparent adhesive shear stre ngth at the leather-rubber interface. (C) 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.