The Top 5 Most Common Uses of Hot Melt Glue

When most people hear the words "hot melt glue," they think of the little glue stick guns for arts and crafts projects to stick things together. But the world of hot melt adhesives is much bigger. You come into contact with items that use hot melt adhesives all the time—for food packaging, mailing credit cards, or even in construction materials. Here are the top five most common uses of hot melt glue. 

 Sealing Cases and Cartons

See all those food items you pass on the shelves of your local grocery store? Chances are, the store shipped items in from somewhere else. To safely ship food, these goods need to be carefully sealed in the right cases and cartons so the food doesn't leak or spoil.

This requires the best hot melt glue in the industry. Industrial food and beverage manufacturers use hot melt units and automated case erectors and case sealers to properly melt and package products within the correct cases and cartons. This creates the best seal for transportation. Packaging adhesives need to be fast-setting and strong enough to avoid "pop-opens," keeping the packaging process efficient and safe. 

Product Assembly 

There's a good chance most products in your home came from an assembly line. Builders use hot melt adhesives to bond the plastic, wood, and metal pieces together. Adhesives are the main bond for a variety of products: bed mattress layers, shoe insoles, tables, desktops, drawers, golf clubs and so many others. Product assembly adhesives usually have long open times to give operators time to bond two pieces before the glue sets.

Construction 

Loctite construction adhesive or polyurethane construction adhesives have a variety of applications to hold building materials together. For example, glass door and window makers use butyl hot melt adhesive to seal the window panes and provide better insulation.

HVAC filter manufacturers and flooring installations use specially formulated construction adhesives to bond metal and wood to various substrates. HVAC spray adhesives are used to bond absorption pads to metal ducting in case moisture is created within vents. Filter adhesives are used in the pleating process. Because construction adhesives are used in residential and commercial buildings, these adhesives go through a strict qualification process and typically must pass UL 723/ESTM84 smoke and flame spread.

 Book Binding & Mailers

While it may sound like another craft, bookbinding is actually a specialized process that not just any store-bought glue gun can do. Professional bookbinders require heavy-duty hot melt equipment to carefully align and adhere pages of a book to their spine and cover. Book spine glues require flexibility so the book can open, but also a strong permanent bond so the pages don't fall out over time.

Direct mailers use a pressure sensitive adhesive (PSA) for their application, usually referred to as "booger glue" or fugitive adhesives. Typical direct mailers use this booger glue to adhere credit cards or gift cards to letters or inserts to magazine pages. Booger glue for direct mail must not be oily as it can damage the paper stock it is on. It also must not be super tacky or it rips pages as the end user tries to remove the insert.

 Crafts and Graphic Arts

There's much more to this category than craft guns. Hot melt glue guns can use many different types of adhesives that even the average person can use to fix things around their home. Glue guns can have slow and heat-resistant adhesives for packaging, translucent glue for upholstery, amber hot melts for cabinetry assembly and RV homes…the list goes on.

 Find the Right Hot Melt Glue with Astro Packaging

Astro Packaging provides customers with the best options for hot melt glue guns and adhesives. Whether you're in the product assembly industry and need dispensing equipment or looking for a sturdy manual hot glue gun, we have the best on the market to offer you. Our customer support and experience are beyond compare, thanks to a full team of certified technicians available to assist customers with any questions. Get in touch with us today to find the right hot melt adhesives for your needs.