Optimizing Hot Melt Open Time vs. Setting Speed with Efficient Wax Selection

Many in the industry use the trial & error method to meet specific hot melt needs like balancing open time vs setting speed. You can save days of trial by knowing how hot melt open time, setting speed, hot tack… are influenced by wax characteristics, thereby making the right wax selection to meet your needs! Join this course and:

1. Know what impacts your hot melts’ performance – influence of wax characteristics.
2. Select the right wax among the many types available (PE, FT PP...) with better characterization (melting point, crystallization point, molecular weight distribution…)
3. Understand why it is not working when you are facing a failure by reviewing formulation factors influencing performance

Hot melt adhesive formulators

The following sections will be covered in this session:

1. Co-relation between Hot Melt Performance and Wax Characteristics
   • Dependence between waxes characteristics (hard/soft; melting point; crystallization…) and variation of hot tack, open time & setting speed
   • Unwanted effect: negative impact on adhesion


2. The different types of waxes: PP, PE…
   • How do they work?
   • How to characterize them in practice?


3. Why compatibility with polymer is essential and how to test?


4. How to balance open time & setting speed?
   • How to assess in practice hot tack, open time and setting speed?
   • What if final result is not as expected? Interaction with polymers, with tackifiers…


5. Live Q&A with the expert

We recommend attendees to take a look at this 101 Hot Melt Refresher