While many of the applications for solventborne adhesives have been converted to hot melt and waterborne systems there are still many types of adhesives that require solvents. Many of the same elastomers and tackifiers used for hot melt and waterborne applications are usable in solvent systems. The only limitation is that they must dissolve to form a stable solution at low enough viscosity to allow application.

While many solvents can be used, the most commonly used solvents for adhesive systems are toluene, heptane, acetone, n-butyl acetate, methyl ethyl ketone, methylene chloride, naphtha, and mineral spirits. In the United States the Federal Environmental Protection Agency has exempted acetone, methyl acetate, t-butyl acetate, and perchlorobenzenetetraflouride from consideration as volatile organic compounds (VOCs). There is growing interest in using these solvents to partially or completely replace non-exempt solvents. Since most of the hydrocarbon and rosin resins produced by Eastman are soluble in some or all of these solvents, they are a good choice when formulating solventborne adhesives.

The common types of solventborne adhesives are pressure sensitive (used mainly for tapes and labels), non-pressure sensitive (applications such as mastics and sealants), and contact adhesive (used for footwear and construction assembly). Solventborne pressure sensitive adhesives are normally based on styrenic block copolymers, natural rubber, styrene-butadiene rubber (SBR), and acrylic polymers. Sealants and mastics are frequently based on SBR or butyl rubber. Contact adhesives are most commonly based on polychloroprene rubber. The tackifier selection for each of these systems will depend on the base polymer used and the required performance of the system.

Visit our Tackifier Center to learn more about compatibility between elastomers and tackifiers and to understand which classes of tackifiers should be considered for a given application.