The automotive industry experiences a strong rise in demand of sustainable bonding and sealing solutions. Adhesive tapes have high potential to serve this demand. All components of adhesive tapes like backing, adhesive layer and release liner have possibilities for sustainability improvements and will be evaluated: the technical feasibilities for several recycled plastics and biobased materials will be shown and the current availability of suitable sustainable materials in the global market discussed. As an example application, hole covering in automotive production with an automated tape application will be introduced. Here, adhesive tapes contribute to weight reduction, and the further potential of using sustainable materials and solvent-free coating processes will be shown. With a holistic approach, adhesive tapes with more than 77% sustainable content are possible by combining recycled and biobased materials without compromising performance compared to comparable conventional adhesive tapes for this application.
Co-authors: Benjamin Brummer