Laminating adhesives are used for large-area bonding of individual foils and films to form laminati come PET/PE o PET/AL/PP. Le proprietà delle singole lamine e pellicole sono combinate in modo tale che il laminato sia idoneo per un successivo utilizzo come materiale di imballaggio per l'imballaggio di merci, come ad esempio prodotti alimentari, sanitari, articoli medici o farmaceutici o articoli che necessitano di protezione da danni prima del primo utilizzo.
Adesivi per laminazione most often consist as a rule of isocyanate group-containing polyurethane binders. Most of the available laminating adhesive give, after cross-linking, are transparent appearance.
A causa delle normative legali un numero molto limitato di materie prime è consentito o idoneo all'uso inadesivi per imballaggi flessibili. Besides their damage to the environment because of the high content of volatile organic solvents, the necessity of high energy consuming drying tunnels to flash-off those solvents to achieve the demanding prooperties, even the necessary adhesive lay down needed for the production of the laminates is about two times higher than the lay down regarding solvent-free adhesives. The laminating adhesive must also be resistant to an effect called "tunneling". which is the localized separating or delamination of the substrates caused by two films of different extensibility that stretch or relax at different rates. Other general considerations in selecting an adhesive for lamination include adhesion, mechanical bond strength, formulating flexibility, and heat and chemical resistance. One must also determine the ability of the adhesive to flow uniformly over the film's surface and form a smooth continuous coting.
