Adhesives are natural or chemical formulations that join different substrates. Natural adhesives have been in existence even before the advent of industrialisation. However, synthetic adhesives are a new age discovery that gained wide acceptability in the 20th century. After the Second World War, tremendous changes in trade and manufacturing prompted major innovations in the adhesives industry. Today, adhesives find application in most of the manufacturing sectors, led by the packaging industry. With ever growing packaging forms and substrates, the role of adhesives has become even more important.
Indian Scenario
The Indian adhesives industry has carved out its own identity, swiftly adapting to global technological advancements in the chemicals and petrochemicals industry. This has led to the Indian adhesives industry ensuring an abundant supply of all types of raw materials. The Indian adhesives industry is a tiny part of the larger chemical industry. It comprises home grown enterprises and international companies, constituting the organised and unorganised players. Since adhesives are used predominantly in industrial applications, they are sold mostly as a commodity than as a brand. This has helped small and unorganised players to withstand the marketing onslaught of big companies.
Prominent Indian adhesive companies are Converter Adhesives and Chemicals Pvt Ltd (CAC) and Pidilite Industries Ltd (PIL). These companies have a large market share and they compete with the multinationals in the high-end adhesives market. CAC operates mainly in the industrial and packaging adhesives segment, while PIL is the largest player in the synthetic adhesives market with a 60 per cent market share. Considering the prospects of the Indian adhesives industry, foreign companies have scaled up their operations.
The beginning of late 1990s saw a great degree of consolidation in the form of mergers and acquisitions. The US based adhesive company, 3M bought out the stake of its Indian partners in 3M India. And Huntsman, one of the oldest operators in the adhesives market, acquired the polyurethanes business of ICI India in 2002. National Starch operates from ICI India.
Innovation and advancement
Companies have now started moving up the value chain, from generic products to technologically advanced products. This led to the vertical integration of major global adhesive manufacturing companies and the advent of small specialised adhesives companies. This, in turn, has resulted in product innovation and value addition.
Cold seal adhesives (CSA)
CSAs are result of the latest technological innovation in the adhesives industry. Cold seal adhesives have gained wide acceptance in the packaging of consumer goods and medical and industrial products. Due to health and safety concerns, companies have adopted synthetic rubber-based cold seal adhesives for packaging of medical products. As cold seals perform at low temperature, they don't damage the packaging. In fact, cold seal remains sealed even below 40°F. Thus they find numerous applications in the packaging of consumer goods and medicines that need to be stored in cold conditions. Cold seal works well with paper based materials, polypropylene (PP), polyethylene (PE) and polyethylene terephthalate (PET).
Cold seal adhesives are made from a mixture of adhesive and natural rubber latex. The adhesive component gives anchorage to the chosen substrate and the natural rubber serves as an interconnecting element. In cold seal, a bond is formed through pressure rather than heating. Cold seals dry and settle very fast. They take only 0.5 seconds to settle down, compared with hot seals, which take 1-2 seconds to dry. Several innovations have also taken place in the cold seal adhesives segment. Now, natural latex free cold adhesives are being manufactured, using several emulsions.
(Courtesy: Onboard, ITC Ltd.)