COVER STORY
ADHESIVES INNOVATIONS
Continuous advancements in adhesives technology are facilitating the manufacture of new products with revolutionary combinations of properties. These are helping contractors to meet ever-greater customer expectations surrounding speed of installation and finished appearance. Stephen Boulton, technical service manager at F. Ball and Co. Ltd., talks through some of the latest innovations.
Each year, F. Ball invests significantly in research and development, which is managed by a committee of specialists from sales, marketing and technical departments and supported by dedicated on-site laboratories and testing facilities at its Staffordshire headquarters.
The aim is ultimately to make life easier for flooring contractors, who face increasing customer demands and pressure to complete projects to ever-shorter timescales, by helping them work with greater speed and efficiency.
Adhesives have seen particular enhancements in recent years, with advancements in technology allowing the formulation of adhesives that combine previously unheard of combinations of properties, as well as enabling manufacturers to add new properties to adhesives already on the market. Contractors are better equipped to meet ever-changing customer expectations and retain a competitive advantage by keeping abreast of these developments.
COMBINATIONS OF PROPERTIES
Advancements in hybrid polymer adhesives enabled F. Ball to create Styccobond F49 Hybrid PS, the first in a generation of
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high-performance vinyl adhesives that combines both pressure sensitive and temperature tolerant characteristics.
Traditionally, temperature tolerant adhesives have been ‘wet-lay’, and flooring contractors installing floorcoverings in areas where they will be exposed to extreme temperatures have had to forgo the advantages of pressure sensitive alternatives – normally a popular choice for the installation of vinyl tiles and planks because of the high initial grab afforded by them.
WIDENING APPLICATIONS
Knowledge of plasticiser resistance has been key to making this and other adhesives suitable for installing PVC flooring accessories, such as skirting, capping and coving. Plasticisers are chemicals added to PVC materials during their manufacture which are released by the material over time and can cause delamination of the flooring accessory from the substrate. This makes Styccobond F49 Hybrid PS an alternative to traditional contact adhesives. It also means that flooring contractors only need one adhesive when working over the floor as well as up the wall.
Excellent plasticiser resistance is also a feature of F. Ball’s market-leading, rapid-curing, flexible tube adhesive Stycco Flex,
www.tomorrowscontractfloors.co.uk
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