Baby diapers have come a long way since the days where parents pinned together a few pieces of cloth. Baby diapers today are more advanced and are made for security, skin protection, and comfort, critical features every consumer is seeking with baby diapers. Parents are focused on comfort for their infant and high-quality materials assure there are no leaks while protecting the baby’s skin from rashes and other discomfort caused by wetness. This means the diaper construction requires secure bonding of different layers and materials to keep the diaper together, absorb wetness, and are stretchable to guarantee comfort and fit for the baby.

Henkel has a proven portfolio of diaper adhesives designed for each application within the diaper construction process. Henkel’s TECHNOMELT® ADVANCE adhesives are optimized for all hygiene products including high-quality diaper adhesives for diaper construction. Henkel has dedicated production lines to assure product quality and supply security globally when looking for adhesive materials to glue diaper parts. Whether it be stretch release adhesives, wetness indicator adhesives, diaper construction adhesives, Henkel is happy to help find personalized solution that lowers the cost of diaper construction while creating the highest quality products possible.

Contact us today to find out more about our diaper adhesive solutions.

Adhesive Innovations for Baby Diapers

The last several years have brought many changes to baby diaper manufacturing. A number of these advances include increased automation on the production line and Industry 4.0 technology to help parents manage their baby’s health and wellbeing. Henkel is at the forefront of material developments in these areas, including:

Easyflow® - Fast-moving consumer goods use hot melt adhesives to keep production lines running at higher speeds for a variety of bonding needs. The challenge is keeping a steady flow of adhesive to the production lines without increasing manpower or experiencing changes in adhesive temperature or overfilling hot melt tanks. Henkel offers customers Easyflow® to solve their production challenges. Built around an innovative hot melt adhesive formulation, Easyflow® sets a new standard in process performance and efficiency. It offers:

Melt-on-demand capabilities derived from patented product form

Closed system integration to eliminate foreign materials in hot melt tanks

Auto feeding system to keep production moving

Smart Healthcare Solutions for Diapers –  Smart diapers are quickly becoming the new norm within the diapers industry. Advances in printed electronics technology have enabled the production of moisture sensors within the diaper itself that are both lightweight and flexible. Henkel offers a wide range of adhesives and inks that are highly suited for these applications that contribute to smart diaper technology.

Material Solutions for Diapers

We understand the challenges you face in producing high-quality baby diapers. From the need to decrease overall weight while increasing absorption capabilities, to improving durability all while remaining flexible and comfortable, diaper construction demands are diverse. For diaper manufacturers, having a reliable supplier that provides adhesive materials tailored to specific diaper applications is essential.     

Our line of diaper adhesive solutions can help in a variety of different applications areas by:

  • Enhancing core dependability and absorbency
  • Increasing flexibility and security of hold for diaper elastics
  • Improving wetness indicator capabilities
  • Refining overall diaper construction
  • Decreasing the odors associated with diapers

Henkel offers a range of product to  improve the safety and purity of personal hygiene products and meets regulatory guidelines to keep families safe and secure.

Adhesives for Core Efficiency and Integrity

The absorbent core is the inner-most layer of the diaper. It typically consists of a blend of cellulose fluff pulp and polyacrylate granules. The cellulose portion quickly absorbs to keep the baby’s skin dry. These absorbent materials in diapers are specially designed to increase absorptive capabilities while reducing overall diaper weight. As technology has improved, less and less cellulose is needed, allowing major reductions in diaper weight and volume. It also makes it easier to adhere the various layers needed for diaper construction. 

Henkel developed a line of TECHNOMELT® adhesives are used to stabilize the diaper core, offering security in use for varying fluff/SAP ratios while increasing absorbency.

Our adhesives for core efficiency and integrity provide:

  • Excellent wet strength
  • Improved fluid handling
  • Guaranteed discretion

Adhesives for Leg and Cuff Elastics

Diapers come in different shapes and sizes. The value is creating a custom fit to each child. Materials and specific designs are used to achieve this custom fit which helps prevent leakage. New designs with stretch properties help diapers fit well, and they vary depending on the manufacturer. The design elements often include stretch side panels to allow the diaper to be pulled snug against a baby and prevent leakages. These stretch panels are constructed from stretch release adhesive materials and require adhesives which can move with the substrate. Henkel’s TECHNOMELT® DM stretch release adhesives guarantee a long-lasting solid bond of the side panel to the body of the diaper.

Stretch release properties for these applications require adhesives that can move with the substrate. Henkel’s TECHNOMELT® DM diaper adhesives provide comfortably fitting and leakage free diapers.

The adhesives for leg and cuff elastics offer:

  • Excellent creep resistance
  • Cool technology
  • Exceptional cost-in-use
  • High shear strength
  • High heat and cold resistance
  • Excellent aging stability

Wetness Indicator Adhesives

In all products, consumers are seeking ways to make their lives easier and enjoy the downtime. Using visual identifiers to know when something needs to be replaced is a timesaver. Wetness indicators are a helpful tool emerging in the market. Henkel’s technical experts understand how to incorporate these features into hygiene product designs to allow a rapid color change with a high resistance to humidity. This enables the consumer to be more efficient when changing. Henkel’s wetness indicator adhesives help make more advanced diaper’s a possibility by helping accurately show when diapers need to be changed.

Our wetness indicator adhesives offer:

  • Accurate wetness detection
  • Strong hold and adhesive properties
  • Color change features when the diaper gets wet

Baby Diaper Construction

When the diaper’s topsheet contacts the baby’s skin, it is specially designed to quickly transfer fluids to the core of the diaper while remaining soft and dry to the touch. The backsheet is the water-resistant outer layer of the diaper. It prevents liquids from passing through the diaper and leaking onto the baby’s clothing or surrounding environment. These type of diaper adhesives serve critical functions in the quality of a diaper. Our olefin adhesive systems have improved thermal stability versus rubber and excellent adhesion to the range of substrates used in diaper construction.

Henkel’s TECHNOMELT® DM adhesives ensure a strong and secure seal between topsheet and backsheet, a critical process in diaper construction. They work with the coatings and enhancements to the substrates, while assuring an excellent bond strength at low coating weights.

Our diaper construction adhesives offer:

  • Good running properties
  • Cool technology
  • Outstanding cost in use

Low Odor Diaper Adhesives

As baby diaper have continued to evolve, consumers have sought higher-quality diapers that reduce odors associated with baby diaper materials. Innovations in diaper odor control are helping reduce the typically smells of diapers. Our diaper adhesive products have a lower density which results in lower coat weights up to 15 percent along with less odor.

Henkel has developed specialized low odor acrylic adhesives that are highly suited for diaper construction. These adhesives are specially made for diaper applications and dramatically reduce the strong acrylic smells are sometimes associated with diapers.

Our low-odor acrylic adhesives for diaper construction offer:

  • Low-odor properties
  • Strong hold and adhesive capabilities
  • Reduce overall diaper weight

Specialty Adhesives

Henkel is always ready to support diaper manufacturers in finding solutions to their unique set of challenges. Our team of adhesives experts are ready to find innovative and personalized adhesive solutions to for diaper construction. No matter what type of adhesives solution you are looking for, our Henkel team is happy to help you get the job done right.

Contact us today to find out more about our diaper adhesive solutions.

Adhesive Troubleshooting for Baby Diapers

Using adhesives that offer durability and high bond strength are key components in high-quality diaper construction. This is why many diaper manufacturers use hot melt adhesives in their manufacturing process. Since these types of adhesives can cause production delays and our customers rely upon our team of experts to develop solutions to meet their unique set of circumstances, Henkel offers the following adhesive troubleshooting for baby diapers.

Spray Adhesives

Heat, time, and oxidation are factors that can cause issues with spray adhesive technology. These can also cause other issues that can lead to production delays and downtimes. For this reason, Henkel has developed a list of spray adhesive troubleshooting tips to improve production efficiency and avoid quality control issues such as overspray and poor coverage. Our tips will help establish baseline settings and to then further fine-tune each application to reach optimal performance levels.

Slot Coating Adhesives

For baby diapers, applying adhesive via slot coating relies on direct contact between the substrate and hot melt applicator. Maximizing slot coating equipment uptime requires understanding the process needs and avoiding common challenges of poor coverage, bleed-through, nozzle damage, and nozzle build-up. These issues are often related to  incorrect process settings, poor equipment maintenance, substrate changes, or a combination of these elements.

Char

One of the most attractive features of hot melt adhesives is how fast the material cures making it ideal for fast paced packaging applications where efficiency and speed are important factors. However, this material is sensitive to heat, contaminants and oxidation which cause char. This can lead to clogged hoses, filters, and nozzles. To avoid delays and costly repairs to hotmelt equipment, it is important to prevent char from forming, especially because once char is in the system, it can be difficult to remove.

Set Back Mode

Another factor that can lead to char is hot melt adhesive degradation. This is caused by the hot melt material being warmed for too long. By implementing a tank setback mode, char, and discoloration can be avoided, and wait times due to reheating or cooling the hot melt adhesive can be reduced.

Hot Melt Tank Refilling

Having a system in place to prevent overfilling or underfilling hot melt tanks will keep the temperature of the tank consistent. Establishing a regular tank filling routine will help prevent char from forming, as well as keeps the temperature in the tank consistent. By following a set of best practices, a number of issues surrounding hot melt tank refilling can be avoided.

Hot Melt Safety

Routine maintenance and proper safety measures help to avoid preventable injuries. By following our list of safety best practices, you can protect hot melt equipment operators against injury and reduce unexpected delays during production assemblies.

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