The Recent Tendency of Environmentally-friendly Tackifiers

It is a main trend not to use organic solvents in the adhesive industry from the recent environmental and safe points of view. For example, water-based, hot-melt, or UV curable adhesives are being investigated. Several different kinds of tackifiers that are formulated in the adhesives in order to give them more functional properties like initial tack and higher adhesion, etc., have been proposed to meet the recent trend. Firstly, the characteristics and fundamental properties of the respective materials are presented. In Japan, the trend to develop the water-based adhesives is most remarkable. While the environmental regulations are getting harder, Arakawa Chemical has been spending a lot of energy for the research, and developed toluene-free and solvent free tackifier dispersions that are presented precisely.