Adhesive Labels

Plain labels are big in the food industry, usually just box end or sell by information is printed on them, and sometimes customers may have 7 different 100% washes of colour for day recognition.

Sheet Labels are great for carton/packet labelling, although the generally more open calender nature of them makes them less suited to cold/wet or frozen applications as they absorb moisture more easily than roll label products.

4 Colour Process, or Full Colour Print as it is often referred to, is a great way to brighten up a product and with big advantages in flexographic printing over the past 20 years, very high quality print can now be achieved

A GUIDE TO ADHESIVES AND THEIR APPLICATION

There are four main categories of adhesives available in today’s label market they are Permanent, Removable, Food Safe and Chemical adhesives.

Within each of these categories there are a multitude of variants designed for specific applications and to the novice this can be very confusing, Eurolabels Ltd can help you through this minefield to ensure we marry the correct adhesive to your needs to provide a product that works for you but costs you less.

Permanents, as their name suggests, are designed to be applied to a product and never be removed. These adhesives come in a variety of strengths and chemical constructions:

Acrylic Standard Permanents (the most common) are typically used in box end labelling or mailing for example. These offer good adhesion on papers and most cardboards and films etc, but on some films and plastics the lower “grab” of the acrylic construction can cause adhesion issues if release agents are present on the substrate for example. The acrylic adhesives have good very high temperature resistance though and will also often perform well down to -20c although they do need to be applied above freezing and on to dry surfaces.

The next adhesive in the permanent category are the High Tack adhesives, within this sector there are the Freezer adhesives, some of which will work down to -100c and below and more importantly can be applied to frozen surfaces, even if frosted or wet.

Then there are the Very High Tack adhesives, these are designed for rough/damp/dirty/oily surfaces for example and as well as acrylics there are also Hot Melts within this sector.

It is a complex area and to find the right product here means care should be taken when matching adhesive to your printer, because if mistakes are made the adhesives can “bleed” and damage your printer etc, Eurolabels Ltd can work with you to isolate the right product for your needs and to ensure the labels only stick to the surfaces you want with no hassle to you.

The next category is Removable adhesives, the Standard Removable adhesives are designed to be applied and then removed at a later date without leaving the face paper behind, in addition to the Standard Removable there are sub sectors such as Glass Removable that as the name suggests are designed to be applied to glass and removed later without leaving any adhesive residue. These can sometimes be referred to as Super Peels.

Also there are Ultra Removable adhesives such as Fasson’s R100, these are typically used in book and plastic production, again designed to be removed without leaving adhesive residue, these will work on glossy surfaces but not on glass so beware! If you are unsure talk to us and we can help you.

The third sector is Food Label and Food Safe adhesives. These are usually certified (FDA) for direct or indirect contact with food, and some are even designed to adhere direct to meats or fatty products without any migration of the adhesive into the food product. There are lots of products both removable and permanent available to the end user within this sector, but the application requirements quite often mean only one adhesive will work for you, once again we have the knowledge to guide you to the safe, legal and most economic solutions.

Finally we get to the Chemical adhesives, typically paired up with synthetic face materials these adhesives are generally BS5609 (or equivalent) approved and will perform in extreme environments such as immersion in sea water to a depth of one mile for 6 months, or be resistant to acids or solvents for example.

This is a tricky sector and we are constantly working with our material suppliers to develop the best products for this market, if there is an application you are having concerns or problems with, talk to us and we will work with you too, we have probably already solved the problem for you.