HUNTSMAN Advanced Materials (Switzerland)

Partners(s): Antala, Spain - Biesterfeld Group - Bodo Moeller Chemie GMBH, Germany - Emanuele Mascherpa S.p.A, Italy – Samaro, France - VIBA NL, Netherlands.

New technology of non-flammable, low-odor, and primer-free structural acrylate adhesives with a favorable health and safety profile, providing exceptional bonding performance on multiple substrates.

The innovation is a new acrylic adhesives technology that cures fast, creates high strength and high elongation bonds, outstanding stress and impact resistance, and importantly, unlike many structural adhesives, provides an effective solution to multiple sustainability-related challenges, without compromising performance: • Non-flammable classification: unlike traditional methyl-methacrylate-based products, new adhesives are not classified as flammable, leading to lower usage costs and environmental impact: - Reduced need for safety training, for special storage and transportation conditions - Limited protective equipment and measures - No need for costly installation and maintenance of flammable storage areas - Savings in transport costs and CO2 emissions: The new chemistry allows for a class 9 transport classification versus a class 3 ("flammable liquids") for standard MMA-based adhesives.

The new acrylic technology is not subject to several restrictions:

• road transport in tunnels is permitted, and consequently CO2 emissions were reduced thanks to optimized delivery routes
• Favorable Health and Safety profile: new adhesives have an improved GHS classification; they are not corrosive, and the "signal wording" changes from "Danger" to "Warning." Operators are exposed to fewer hazards, which allows them to manipulate the products with fewer constraints due to less uncomfortable PPE equipment
• Low odor: with 90% less odor than MMA products, new adhesives increase well-being and satisfaction of users, especially in poorly ventilated working environments. It contributes to savings on personal and collective protective equipment
• Limited surface preparation: new adhesives display one of the very important features of MMA chemistry: most of the time they do not need long and costly surface preparation, which reduces application time by half and lowers costs, in comparison to polyurethane and epoxy products, while providing the same level of bonding strength.

Key benefits

• Safety, wellbeing, and productivity
• Reduced CO2 emissions (transport)
• Financial savings (storage/protection)
• Performance, multi-substrates, and composites bonding
• Material models available for simulation