Biodegradable Hot Melt Adhesive Compound

About This Product

This is a pellet compound of two biodegradable polyesters, PBAT and PLA. PLA is a stiff, high-cohesion aliphatic polyester made from plant sugars; PBAT is a flexible aliphatic-aromatic copolyester. Blended, they give a thermoplastic that is solid and non-tacky at ambient temperature and flows on heating, which is the whole basis of a hot melt: no solvent, no cure, only a phase change.

Adhesive is the component that most often fails a compostable packaging certification. A pack made entirely of certified material, assembled with a conventional hot melt, is not compostable — the adhesive is a contaminant, and it is easy to overlook because it is a few grams in a large pack. Conventional hot melts are built on hydrocarbon backbones that offer no route for hydrolysis or microbial attack; a polyester backbone provides exactly that route. Working properties then follow from the blend: the PLA fraction supplies cohesive strength and a sharper set, the PBAT fraction flexibility and open time, and the two trade against each other, since a longer open time is also a slower set. Open time, set speed and bond strength are therefore set against the substrate and the application equipment rather than quoted in isolation. Supplied as a raw material for processing on your own line; we do not produce finished articles.

It is used in biodegradable adhesive manufacture, compostable pack assembly, bio-based polymer systems and carton and case sealing.

Bio Green Oleo supplies the hot melt adhesive compound to specification on polymer ratio, pellet form, and open time, set speed and bond strength against the nominated substrate.