Peculiarities of Starch Adhesive Application

Starch is a natural plant polymer. It is most often produced from corn, potatoes, and wheat. Due to its unique properties and specific characteristics, starch has found application in industrial production. Because of its unique formula, it has several uses in industry. One of them is bonding.

Starch based adhesive applications

You can use starch adhesive: for gluing labels, in the production of corrugated cardboard or wallpaper adhesives.

For product labeling, adhesives based on modified starches can be used in the following cases:

• The line speed is less than 30 thousand bottles per hour. The label is pasted on dry glass at a temperature up to 40 ˚С.
• When labels are applied with an overlap of more than 8 mm on PET or tin containers.

Starch labelling adhesives are very popular because they have a number of specific advantages, including:

• relatively low cost;
• can be manually applied;
• easy equipment cleaning;
• can be diluted with water;
• a wide range of glues.

Testing equipment with starch adhesive

Before testing:

1. Check the adhesives for compatibility by mixing a small amount of the two adhesives in equal quantities. Indicators of adhesive incompatibility are: coagulation, foaming, significant dilution or thickening of the sample mixture, etc.

2. If the adhesives are compatible, a full cleaning of the adhesive system is not required. It is enough to clean the pump, wipe the carriers and pump the remaining glue from the hoses. If the adhesives are not compatible, you should thoroughly wash the adhesive system of the previous adhesive remnants.

3. Before starting the line, warm the adhesive to the optimum working temperature indicated in the technical description of the tested glue.

4. It is recommended to examine the first few bottles in manual mode and check for glue application uniformity, adhesive layer thickness, label clamping, quality, fixing time and the absence of label displacement or shearing.

Manual starch adhesive application

Adhesive for manual application is selected depending on the type of bonded surfaces, depending on what will provide sufficient adhesion. With the manual labeling method, low viscosity grades are selected. For manual application, it is also possible to use types of adhesives intended for use in automated equipment. These adhesives are more viscous, so technicians recommend diluting them with water just before use.

We recommend that you carefully consider the selection of a starch glue for use in both equipment and manual application. Incorrect selection leads to “shedding” of the label during packaging, transportation or at the point of sale. A badly glued or label that has fallen off creates an untidy product appearance and damages the company’s image.

To select the proper starch adhesive, contact the Lux-X technical specialists. Our specialists will visit your facility to audit the equipment and test adhesives in your enterprise free of charge. Use the ‘Order’ button and managers will contact you as soon as possible!