Hot melt adhesives are used in the hygiene industry almost exclusively for the manufacture of nonwoven products including baby diapers, adult incontinence products, and feminine care personal hygiene products. These adhesives require raw materials with superior technical performance as well as consistent quality.

Since most nonwoven products are manufactured on machines operating at a high rate of speed (up to 1000 feminine care products per minute), a consistent adhesive is the key to optimized production.

Key technical requirements for the nonwoven adhesive industry are:

• Precise viscosity control for exact adhesive coating weights.
• High speed adhesive application.
• Correct adhesion/cohesion balance.
• Aging stability.
• Bonding to polyolefin substrates.

Regalite hydrocarbon resins and Eastotac resins are an excellent choice for styrenic block copolymer and APO-based hot melt adhesives for nonwoven applications.
 
Eastman Chemical Company offers a wide variety of tackifier resins and polymers to meet adhesive needs for nonwoven hygiene products. Of special interest are the Regalite, Eastotac, and Regalrez brands of hydrogenated hydrocarbon resins. To achieve improved creep resistance, the use of Kristalex, Plastolyn, and Endex hydrocarbon pure monomer aromatic resins will reinforce the styrene end-block of styrenic block copolymers. Partially hydrogenated Regalite tackifier resins will reduce melt viscosity, resulting in optimized spray coating for hot melt adhesives.