Covestro launches new adhesive solutions to enable the industry to develop new quality productivity

On September 5, 2024, material manufacturer Covestro unveiled the 27th China Adhesive and Adhesive Tape Industry Annual Meeting with the theme of "Create and continue the future", and released a number of new adhesive solutions under the Dispercoll®U and Dispercoll®UPLUS brands, covering automotive, sports and leisure fields. With its efficient local R&D and production capacity, Covestro continues to introduce innovative product portfolios, aiming to help the industry iterate and upgrade with more sustainable raw material innovation, enabling new quality productivity in the adhesive industry.

Li Jinqi, Vice president of Covestro's Coatings and adhesives Business Division in Greater China, said at the Adhesives Annual meeting: "In recent years, Covestro has continued to increase its localization research and development and production capacity, and has built an efficient innovation and supply network in Asia Pacific, and maintained quality uniformity, successfully helping coating and adhesives customers better layout the regional market. In addition, we are actively advancing our digital strategy at different stages of product development to significantly increase the efficiency of product innovation."

Seize the new market demand, innovative adhesive solutions and upgrade

"New quality productivity" is led by innovation and characterized by high technology, high efficiency and high quality. Since the concept was proposed in September 2023, it has become a driving force for the development of new momentum and new advantages in various industries. In order to support the development of new quality productivity in the adhesive industry, Covestro introduced a number of new adhesive solutions with high performance, high efficiency and sustainability characteristics at the annual meeting.

In response to the trend of lightweight, personalized design in the sports shoe market, Covestro's Dispercoll®U high-performance water-based polyurethane adhesive solution for special, difficult shoes helps to improve the manufacturing efficiency of sports shoes and achieve energy saving and carbon reduction. The solution offers excellent initial viscosity for lightweight, temperature-sensitive substrates and novel adhesion scenarios for shoe designs, enabling smoother processing and a significant increase in productivity. At the same time, the activation temperature can be reduced from 55 degrees Celsius to 35 degrees Celsius, reducing the energy consumption and carbon emissions in the thermal activation process.

In addition, single-component shoe glue solutions that simplify the bonding process are also attracting increasing industry attention. Covestro's Dispercoll®UPLUS one-component aqueous shoe adhesive solution makes the shoe-making process easier, saves equipment and labor, reduces material waste, and is suitable for automated spraying processes. Verified by downstream customers, its excellent hydrolysis resistance and bonding strength can effectively reduce the risk of high performance sports shoes opening during wearing and extend the service life of the product.

In response to changing trends in interior design in the automotive industry, Covestro has introduced Dispercoll®U waterborne polyurethane automotive interior coating solutions with better heat resistance. The solution has good initial viscosity and excellent initial heat resistance, which can effectively meet the strict requirements of high internal stress bonding of 3D finishes, making the coating process more efficient, and can be applied to novel automotive armrests and large arc seat backs and other 3D interior design cladding. Compared to the standard solutions available on the market, this solution performs better in both initial and final heat resistance to better meet the dual requirements of the production process and application, reducing the risk of rebound, bulge and other phenomena.

Covestro also launched an upgraded version of Dispercoll®UPLUS waterborne polyurethane automotive interior adhesive solution, which significantly improves heat and moisture resistance to the aging challenges of the interior in extreme high temperatures and ensures the long-term stability of the adhesive bonding performance of the interior. At the same time, the product also has better storage stability.

Digital R&D improves innovation efficiency and accelerates localized innovation

These innovative adhesive solutions are developed at Covestro's Asia Pacific Innovation Center in Shanghai. In addition, to better serve local customers, Covestro has localized production of approximately 75% of the products sold in the coatings and adhesives industry in the Asia Pacific region.

Covestro applies digital technology to product research and development, which improves the efficiency of laboratory innovation and effectively promotes the concept of "new quality productivity". For example, at the Asia Pacific Innovation Center, Covestro has also developed new digital test equipment and solutions for the detection of initial adhesive energy in the footwear industry, replacing the traditional subjective manual assessment methods. By conducting micromechanical analysis of the adhesion process, the digital tool ensures objectivity, scientificity and accuracy of the test results, helping to shorten the product development cycle and meet customers' needs for rapid development of high-quality products to market. In the future, Covestro will continue to deepen the local market, efficiently integrate production and research and development strength through digital research and development, and promote the adhesive industry to a more efficient, more environmentally friendly and more sustainable direction.

Covestro, headquartered in Leverkusen, Germany, is one of the world's leading producers of high-quality polymers for the transportation, construction, electrical and electronics, sports and leisure, and healthcare industries. China is one of Covestro's biggest markets. In 2023, Covestro's sales in China will reach 3.1 billion euros. By the end of 2023, Covestro's total investment in China has exceeded 4 billion euros. Covestro has a full range of business activities in China, including research and development, manufacturing and sales.