Henkel unveils innovations at the Interpack trade fair

Henkel will be present at the Interpack show this year with numerous innovations and proven adhesives systems. The focus is on solutions that Henkel has engineered in response to the requirements of the packaging industry.

The major themes for the present and future include, among others, food safety, occupational health and safety, sustainability, lighter packages and the effects of volatile raw materials markets. Henkel, the world’s biggest adhesives manufacturer, will be tackling these challenges with a broad range of applications and products at Interpack.

Food Safe Packaging
Adhesives, and Henkel’s concentrated expertise, can be found in a multitude of food packages. This is reassuring for customers in the food industry and hence for consumers. Through its extensive knowledge platform devoted to Food Safe Packaging, Henkel is supplying information on the subject to decision-makers in the industry. The platform targets those responsible for food safety, quality managers, packaging developers, purchasers and other interested parties in the food industry and among its suppliers who want to find out more about the current hot topic of food safe packaging.

Henkel is providing information via several avenues. The core channel is its web presence at www.henkel.com/foodsafety. The site provides a range of materials such as webinars, white papers and videos exploring diverse aspects of the subject. The Internet offering is backed up by Henkel stands at numerous trade shows like Interpack as well as at the Food Safe Packaging forums. The latter have already been attended by numerous customers and representatives from research, the trade press and the retail trade wishing to find out especially about the latest trends in adhesives development from the experts.

New solvent-free laminating adhesives group
One example of extra-low-migration adhesives is the Loctite Liofol LA 7777 series, a group of new solvent-free laminating adhesives for flexible food packages. Thanks to its low monomer content and rapid breakdown of primary aromatic amines, this system delivers a product group that can help to improve safety both during processing, as it is exempt from R40 labeling, and for the end-user.

Furthermore, owing to their low CO2 release, these systems can be used for laminates with elevated barrier properties. The performance profile is enhanced with extra features such as a workability almost twice as long as that of conventional systems. In the event of prolonged waiting times at the laminating machine, this helps to prevent the waste that results when the workability time is exceeded. Henkel is thus also responding to the growing interest in sustainable products.

High-performance adhesives for retortable applications
For highly stressed applications such as in stand-up pouches for pet food that undergo sterilization, Henkel is presenting a new solvent-based adhesive system. Already tested in the field, this system meets the highest standards and also features very rapid breakdown of primary aromatic amines. The two-component system can be applied with conventional methods on laminating machines for solvent-based systems.