Find Out How To Get the Adhesive Answers 24/7 at AWFS Booth 1853

Spend a couple of minutes at booth #1853 during AWFS®VEGAS – and you might save yourself hours of time in the future attempting to determine adhesive amount and cost for any given application.

Franklin Adhesives & Polymers is setting up an information center at the booth to demonstrate our 24/7 online technical support for wood adhesives. You can experiment with any six of our exclusive online pressure point calculators, which enable you to find answers to questions about adhesive use anytime around the clock – from anywhere around the world:

• Hydraulic Press Pressure Calculator for common laminating and veneering presses
• Pressure Chart Maker for a specific hydraulic laminating press
• Glue Cost Calculator to estimate adhesive cost based on unit cost, spread and  glue line
• Spread Unit Calculator to convert from one spread unit to eight others
• Edge Gluing Pressure Calculator for Doucet and Taylor Clamp Carriers
• RF Batch Press Pressure Calculator

Our technical experts will be on-hand to demonstrate how to use the calculators, which are available 24/7 at www.franklinadhesivesandpolymers.com. In addition to the Information Center, a number of products are on exhibit in our booth. The spotlight is on our new Advantage Trio line of adhesives for wood windows and on our full line of 14 laminating adhesives.

We welcome you to stop by our booth for your free copy of our new troubleshooting guide for lamination adhesives – and for answers to any other questions you might have about wood adhesives in general.

Get Your Guide to Formaldehyde Regulations

If you have been trying to get your arms around ever-tightening formaldehyde restrictions, you might want to get your hands on a copy of our new informational booklet, Green Guide: Understanding Formaldehyde Regulations Around the World.

The six-page booklet is an easy-to-understand guide to limits on formaldehyde emissions in the U.S., Europe, Asia and other global markets – including California Air Resources Board (CARB) regulations.

The guide explores CARB regulations on composite wood products, which are being phased in over three years. (The first phase became effective January 2009.) It includes a schedule showing effective dates for emission standards on the three products CARB targets (plywood, particleboard and fiberboard); and discusses the merit of using a formaldehyde-free adhesive to ensure compliance with CARB standards, given that wood typically contains some natural amount of formaldehyde.

Beyond giving you information about formaldehyde emissions, we at Franklin Adhesives & Polymers also can help you meet them: Many commonly used Titebond and Multibond wood adhesives support manufacturers of composite wood products in meeting formaldehyde emissions standards. We also recently introduced Multibond 4000 FF, a completely formaldehyde-free, water-resistant, one-part x-PVAc adhesive.

For your copy of the Green Guide, visit www.franklinadhesivesandpolymers.com or e-mail marketing@franklininternational.com. 

Gluing During Hot Summer Months

Many of us look forward to the change in seasons. But the hot temperature and humidity that comes with summer in many regions also bring a change in the setting rates and handling characteristics of wood adhesives. Read more for tips on how to use adhesives effectively during sultry summer months.

• PVA adhesives will generally cure more quickly in the summer months. While this is usually not a problem in most assembly and edge-gluing operations, it can be a source of problems in laminating and veneering operations. Make sure that the closed assembly time is not exceeded by looking at the squeeze-out on the bottom panel. If there is little or no squeeze-out, increase the glue spread or reduce the number of panels in each press load.

• Moisture content in kiln-dried wood will rise during periods of high humidity. If the average ambient humidity is above 40 percent, the moisture content of the wood will be in excess of eight percent. This can be a source of gluing problems, particularly with radio-frequency gluing. Also, high moisture content wood will slow down the rate of cure for PVA adhesives.

• Polyurethane (PUR) Hot Melts will generally set up more slowly due to the higher temperature. Lowering the temperature of the gun or coater ten to 20 degrees Fahrenheit will often compensate for higher plant temperatures. Franklin also has products that differ on open and set times but are similar in viscosity and strength.

• Higher humidity levels can reduce the useable life of melted adhesive in roll-coaters and in heated reservoirs found in laminating and 2K machines. Avoid keeping melted adhesive exposed to the air for extended periods.

If you have any additional questions about gluing in hot and humid environment, feel free to contact your representative or our technical service team at 800.877.4583.