Adhesive sealant uses

In 1999 the Dow Chemical Company had a turnover of US 18900 million and employed 39000 people within 14 business units at 123 manufacturing sites in 32 countries. A map showing the location of the sites is included in the CER. The head office is at Midland, USA. The products made and services offered are reported in the annual report under six main headings Performance Plastics adhesives, sealants and coatings enginering plastics epoxy products fabricated products and polyurethanes ... 

Even so, it is valuable to understand the relative position of individual products in the overall structure of the adhesive and sealant market. Table 1 below provides a good breakdown of elastomeric products in comparison with other major product types. Only the market value of these products is shown, even though most studies, including the one referenced here, include volume data as well. More complete analysis is available from Impact Marketing Consultants, Manchester Center, VT, publisher of the 2000-2002 Rauch Guide to the US Adhesives Sealants Industry (see Chap. 2 on Information Resources). 

Case Western Reserve University (US,Adhesives Sealants Council)... 

From a practical point of view, it is advantageous that critical gel properties depend on molecular parameters. It allows us to prepare materials near the gel point with a wide range of properties for applications such as adhesives, absorbents, vibration dampers, sealants, membranes, and others. By proper molecular design, it will be possible to tailor network structures, relaxation character, and the stiffness of gels to one s requirements. 

Perhaps the biggest thrust for the development of high performance polymers over the next 10 years will be in the aerospace industry where materials will be required for a fleet of high speed civil transports (supersonic transports). At a speed of Mach 2.4, an aircraft surface temperature of about 150 to 180°C will be generated. The life requirement of materials at these temperatures will be about 60000 hours. Many different types of materials such as adhesives, composite matrices, fuel tank sealants, finishes and windows will be needed. These materials must exhibit a favorable combination of processability, performance and price. The potential market for these materials total several billions of US dollars. 

Estimates of European and US solvent use (ktpa) in adhesives are shown in Table 8.13. Note that the US figures also include sealants. 

The Adhesive and Sealants Council, Inc., has published data for adhesives and sealants volume and value, summarized in Table 13.7. The data exclude adhesive used in the plywood, particle board, other boards, foundry sand, and carpet backing. The US statistics including 2002 sales of major manufacturers are given in Tables 13.8-13.11. 

Table 13.9 Major US Manufacturers Sales of Adhesives and Sealants in 2002 (on a Wet Basis) ...

In 1996, the global adhesive and sealant industry was estimated to have a size of about 7.5 million metric tons. The monetary value of this volume was considered to be about US 20.0 billion (1). The value of the market was estimated to be 28.0 billion in 1998 led by North America with a 33% share followed by Europe (30%), the Far East (19%), and the rest of the world (18%) (2). By 2002, the same marketplace is expected to grow to 16.7 million metric tons (3). Adhesives make up over 80% of the adhesives and sealants market. It has been estimated that the global use of adhesives will continue to grow annually by 3-4% from 2000 through 2005, but for some types of adhesives and for some markets, the growth could be much larger. 

In the United States, the adhesive and sealants business was producing about US 1 billion from sales in 1972. By 1999, the US. adhesive business was estimated to be nearly 6.9 million tons in size with an approximate value of US 9.5 billion. The size of the US. adhesive market is anticipated to grow to 7.9 million tons by 2004 (4). The largest markets for adhesives in the United States are construction, primary wood bonding, textiles, and packaging. Markets that command some of the highest prices for adhesives include dental, aerospace, and microelectronics. 

C.D. Kelman, and D.P. DeVore, Collagen-based adhesives and sealants and methods of preparation and use thereof, US Patent 5219895, assigned to Autogenesis Technologies, Inc., June 15, 1993. 

The US trade association, the Adhesive and Sealant Council, has completed a programme called Building the Industry with the goal of increasing the market for structural adhesives and sealants by identifying and developing opportunities to replace mechanical and other incumbent fasteners. 

Polymers have physical properties that are important in adhesion. The chemical structure of the base polymer of the adhesive or sealant and the various formulating agents used in modification of the polymer control the physical characteristics. The glass transition temperature (Tg) is a physical property measurement that reflects the behaviour of polymers. Tg gives us an understanding of the molecular motion that occurs in a polymer system the higher the molecular movement the softer the material. 

Remark on the comparison between adhesives and sealants. One can consider that even if the main properties of sealants differ from the ones addressed by glued joints the mechanisms involved to create the bonding are the same. Controlled chemistry is needed to reach the best level of interactions and formulations are improved to reach the required visco-elastic properties. The mechanism involved in the building of the joint is mainly based on chemical reactions. Nethertheless, the major difference between sealants and adhesives concerns the properties of the resulting joints that are not only adhesion properties. The fact that (1) the sealant joints are much more thicker than glued joints and that (2) additional properties such as, for example, watertightness or vibration absorbing lead us to separate the sealant family from the adhesive classification. 

Fibrin adhesives have been used for longer than any other tissue adhesive, being first applied in the mid-twentieth century, although they were not sold commercially until 1978. Frequently referred to as fibrin sealants as their ability to seal leaks is more significant than their mechanical strength, they are widely used in a variety of surgical procedures, and more so in recent years after the approval by the US FDA of one product in 1998 for certain indications and a second product in 2003 (Spotnitz et al. 2005). 

In Western Europe, about 1.5 million tons of adhesives (dry weight) were used in 1996 [10] compared to 2.3 milhon tons in North America [11]. The world market in 1996 for adhesives and sealants was about US 21 billion compared to approximately US 6.4 billion in North America [llj. 

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