Surfactant Industries launches STARKE D3 Wood Adhesive in aesthetic, innovative dispensing valve packing

Users faced a unique problem when taking out glue from bulk packing to small usable containers. It was creating a big mess to both the bulk and small containers and as well as to the hands of the workers. Sometimes workers used to forget to seal the bulk container properly resulting in drying of the glue thereby ruining the quality, leading to failure of joints. Additionally, dried material was a complete waste.

Non-uniform application was another big problem. Traditional method was so crude and it had basic defect that at one portion of the surface more glue was applied while at the same time another portion got much less spread. This led to uneven distribution of glue on the joining surfaces resulting in inconsistencies and sometimes failure of the bond.

In Europe and America, these problems were overcome by installing suitable dispensing machines. However, in India, the cottage and small scale furniture manufacturers do not have that much money to import and invest on such machines. For this reason, this problem kept on persisting.

Engineers of IIT, Kanpur, and University of Manchester, at Surfactant Industries, Jodhpur, took it as a challenge to give this problem through an innovative cost free solution. Accordingly, a properly designed dispensing valve was placed at the top of the pouch. This was made with tamper-proof seal, so that duplication/adulteration was not possible. From this valve, simply by squeezing the pouch, the required quantity comes out from the mouth - resulting in uniform application on the wood surface. The result was as good as working with automatic dispensing machine, at no extra-cost.

Re-sealable cap was made available to this dispensing valve, which provided storage safety of the product and prevented air contacts. So, with this new packing, the product remains fresh, even after opening and closing the valve several times. This gives 0% wastage and 100% value for money. This innovative packing has received tremendous response with customers from all over India and abroad.

Surfactant Industries is into manufacturing specialist water-based wood adhesives, paper adhesives and emulsion polymers. The Indian furniture and modular industry was facing a unique problem of poor water resistance of conventional white glues, which led to weak joints when they come in contact with moisture/water.

To address this, the company launched a new generation water resistant wood adhesive Starke, a one component D3 wood glue, which exhibits excellent water resistance in comparison to conventional wood glues. In order that the industry adopts this product quickly, the product has been specially priced equivalent to affordable non-water resistant glues. Another big advantage is the product is extremely fast setting. The joints are cured in less then 3-4 hours (as compared to 12 to 14 hours required for normal glues). So, ultimately it leads to higher production, thereby saving cost and time.

The company received strong technical support from adhesive experts from Germany, The Netherlands and Switzerland. Starke has been developed in close association with Dr Herbert Eck of Germany, an author of more than 100 adhesive related patents.

Due to this highly competent team, Starke has been made using a new breakthrough technology called Controlled Intelligent Film Phase Crosslinking (CIFPC). Using CIFPC, the crosslinkers present will have a minimum reactivity in the emulsion state and as soon as it is applied on the substrate, the reaction proceeds leading to improvements like better shelf life, higher water resistance, excellent fast setting characteristics, and higher coverage.

The state-of-the-art, in-house laboratory does thorough testing of all raw materials and every product produced. The product has also been tested at Europe's leading wood laboratory SHR situated in The Netherlands and Starke was found to comply with EN 204/205 D3 Standards.

Starke has now become one of the pioneer D3 Products to be manufactured with complete indigenous technology. The entire manufacturing process was systematised so that regularly consistent and uniform quality is produced. For this best international manufacturing and testing practices were developed and for third party check/audit ISO 9001: 2008 certification was taken.

Starke is being used in industry for many applications including cold pressing, finger jointing, post forming, hot presses, modular furniture, roller presses, sports flooring, sports goods manufacturing, handicrafts, electric board, prelams, writing boards, laminate pressing, etc.

(Surfactant Industries, Jodhpur, Rajasthan. Tel: 0291-2740294. Email: lohiyas@gmail.com)