Press Release - Tacky Solutions Provided by Apollo Adhesives

Date : 29 January 2004

As leaders of industrial adhesives in the UK, Apollo Adhesives has developed a revolutionary two part polyurethane adhesive that has a quick tack - fast cure quality enabling customers to accelerate production time and reduce costs. 

Fasttack is the first polyurethane adhesive to enable continual uninterrupted production lines for bonding panels in a variety of applications and Knauf Insulation Ltd is one of the first customers to realise its full potential.

Warming to the idea

The Polyfoam division of Knauf Insulation Ltd first approached Apollo approximately 14 months ago to request assistance with a specialist project.  The project Knauf was faced with required the bonding of two pieces of insulation panel to make a composite panel required for a particular customer. 

After careful consultation, Apollo suggested that Knauf use the newly developed Fasttack.  This is easily applied using special spray equipment; the panel is then fed through a pinch roller after which the adhesive quickly cures to form an extremely strong bond.  Polyfoam were able to produce the required composite panel from their own premises at a cost that was right for them and their customers.

Mark Thompson, Foam Market Development Manager, Knauf Insulation Ltd said, "We chose the Fasttack product because it provided us with the facility to produce the required composite panels at a quality, rate and cost that was right.  The real benefit came when we realised that the machinery and in particular the adhesive is extremely compatible with our material, as a result we have discovered many more uses for it.

This has been of great importance for us because being able to provide composite and secondary manufactured panels increases our versatility as a specialist supplier of board insulation and enables us to develop more bespoke solutions to solve specific market and customer needs.  Knauf Insulation Ltd is the UK leader [including Crown, Rocksil and Polyfoam brands] in the manufacture of products for thermal and acoustic insulation and fire protection; lamination is a sensible addition to the products supplied and having the equipment in house means greater quality control, more benefit and less cost. 

Apollo had been a supplier to Knauf in the past and they were the obvious choice for the specific project we had in mind.  They have the technical knowledge and are extremely helpful - they were also ahead of the game in understanding what the project required and they had the necessary capacity to deliver. "

A sticky start

Fastack was originally launched by Apollo to counteract some of the problems that were caused by traditional polyurethane adhesives when used in the composite panel market.  Although more effective as a tough, heat resistant elastomeric bond than most other types of adhesive, original polyurethane adhesives had two fundamental issues for manufacturers. 

The first was an environmental issue; up to 50% of the adhesive contained organic solvent, which was released into the atmosphere during application and thereby having a detrimental effect to the environment. 

The second problem was that once the adhesive was applied to the panels, they had to be held under pressure for anything up to two hours whilst the adhesive cured.  This meant that manufacturers needed to allow for curing time, which slowed production and backlogged assembly lines. 

Apollo Adhesives which has an exemplary reputation for understanding the needs of its customers, set about finding a solution to the problems that faced customers during this time.  In the early 1990s they developed a solvent free, sprayable polyurethane adhesive, this solved some very crucial environmental issues.  Apollo were also one of the first adhesive companies accredited with ISO 14001 in 2001 - an environmentally friendly thumbs up!

With the environment issue solved, Apollo turned its attention to the problem customers were having with production efficiency. 

Ian Cornelius, Sales Manager, Apollo Adhesives said, "Fastack was a long awaited solution for many of our customers; it is unique in its exceptionally fast initial tackiness and rapid cure.  Manufacturers are able to keep production lines running because once panels are passed through a pinch roller they are immediately 'stuck'; the panel can then be processed without the time consuming pressing phase.

The immediate benefits are of course increased production and cost efficiency, however the versatility of the machinery and adhesive means that once installed it can be used in many different applications as Knauf has since found to their advantage."

Innovative Adhesives

Apollo Adhesives, based in Tamworth, Staffordshire, was established in 1972 and has over 30 years experience in the development and manufacture of industrial adhesives, sealants and binding systems for both advanced technology and traditional applications.   It is renowned for innovation and technical expertise and above all quality and service. 

Apollo nurtures close working relationships with customers to develop products that will solve problems; priding itself on commitment and understanding the needs of the customer and striving for long term partnerships. 

The company recognises that the real benefits for customers come from providing them with innovative products that offer production and efficiency savings, which far outweigh savings in adhesive cost alone.   Apollo believes that by simply cutting the cost of their products does not help the customer in the long term, instead providing them with leading edge technologies that solve production problems is the best way of helping customers maximise turnover and profitability.