Process Control in Adhesives, Sealants, and Resins

Introduction

Adhesives and sealants are some of the most commonly used products in the world, with applications ranging from corrosion protection to structural reinforcement. For each and every application, the industry is challenged by the need to produce high-quality, functional products. To ensure top quality, manufacturers perform a number of quality checks on finished products before shipment. In addition to final confirmations, almost all suppliers require a COA on product specifications, meaning some level of testing must also be completed inprocess. Optimizing process control tests to ensure proper formulations improve yields and reduce rejected product, which helps increase profits for manufacturers. However, as more producers move to rapid analyses, the importance of accuracy and precision must not be lost.

CEM has spent the last 40 years developing process control equipment that has proven to significantly reduce analysis time, while maintaining the accuracy and precision typically found with industry ASTM standard methods. The SMART 6^TM moisture and solids analyzer provides non-volatile content on aqueous and solvent-based products in 2-3 minutes, with results comparable to various ASTM methods. The Phoenix BLACK^TM muffle furnace fulfills ASTM D5040-90, plus many other standard methods, with results in 30 minutes, as compared to the standard 8-hour test. Finally, the SAM 255^TM drying system is the industry standard for draw-down drying to test hiding power and perform spectral analyses. Each system allows the user to greatly reduce analysis time, while maintaining confidence that the results are accurate and reliable.