PUR Functional Adhesives

It takes up what ever shape it imitates – PU, polyurethane

by Joshua Ko

PU, or polyurethane, is a polymer with versatile characteristics capable of structural design and being synthesized based on different requirements for making hard PUs that can shatter into pieces, soft and flexible PUs, and highly tough and resilient PUs. Furthermore, PU can be easily polymerized with other high polymers into compounds featuring low-temperature resistance, excellent resilience/toughness, and high adhesion force. Therefore, PU products are commonly seen in versatile applications such as auto parts, sporting and leisure garments, interior building decoration, etc. A brief introduction is given with new perspectives and experiences for readers to further understand the PU material.

I.  Auxiliary for color-fastness to light of textile

Bright and colorful clothing apparently increases quality of living in the dressing category. As the ozone layer gets thinner day after day, keeping the original color of clothes that we wear has become a topic worthy of studying. New types of PU auxiliaries for color-fastness to light are co-polymerized by special design of the PU structure, using natural water as the solvent to perform dispersion and fabrication, eliminating the need of adding formaldehyde or other harmful solvents, and therefore taking account environmental requirements while increasing the color-fastness to light of the textile.

II. Adhesive for medical fabric



Medical protective clothing offers
sufficient final-line protection
for medical care personnel.

A medical care system is an important link in society that provides ailing people with good care and does its best to cure the injured. Medical care personnel are at the front line and confront all kinds of bacteria and viruses. Effective protection is necessary to prevent them from becoming infected and from impairing their own health and safety so they can do their best to save the sick. Therefore “Medical Protective Clothing” plays an important part in this. The most commonly seen operating gowns in Taiwan are made of cotton fabric to be disposed of right after use. The protection effect is weak and it is not environmentally friendly. In western countries, medical protective clothes are made by adhesion and can be recycled for re-use after high-temperature sterilization; therefore they are both environmentally friendly and safe. Everlight EVERECO UR-200 medical adhesive gel is exactly produced for this purpose. Medical protective clothing using EVERECO UR-200 as the adhesive not only features strong adhesion and good resistance against water wash, it also endures 100 sterilizations at a temperature as high as 140°C and a pressure up to 2 atm, providing optimal protection for medical care personnel.

III.  Application in optoelectronic materials

 “What? PU can be used in optoelectronic products too?” A common question is asked by people regarding application in this realm. In fact, Polyurethane has already been used in many electronic products. Here are some examples: while cell phones are getting cheaper and cheaper and they are more frequently changed by the user, using PU adhesive to replace screws can effectively lower the manufacturing cost and increase the yield. The adhesive coating on optoelectronic panels can effectively improve optical and physical characteristics. These are the major directions of the on-going developments of PU.