Roller coating in mattress manufacturing

SIMALFA^®: Setting a milestone

Rollers have been used for varnish application for many years with so-called doctor-rolls. For high-quality adhesives such as the water-based SIMALFA^® line, however, a doctor-roll is unsuitable, as it interferes with the finely adjusted adhesive’s optimal performance, for example in terms of strong instant tack. But because roller application is very efficient, SIMALFA^® was determined to design special roller coaters suitable for adhesives.

Nearly 20 years ago, we approached a mechanical engineer with an ambitious plan: to design a specialized double roller optimized for mattress manufacturing. To precisely apply the right amount of adhesive on the application roll, a second roll is used. The application amount can be adjusted by altering the width of the gap between the two rolls. The tighter the gap, the less adhesive is applied.

Today, various machines that include this system are on the market and are successfully used to apply adhesives. Especially in the mattress manufacturing industry, these double roller-systems have become the standard application method.

Roller coating with wet-bonding adhesives

To successfully apply wet-bonding adhesives with a roller coater, some aspects need to be considered. The most important one is the small application quantity required when SIMALFA^® adhesives are in use, which makes the production more profitable. Additionally, the process is faster because the drying time is shorter when less adhesive is applied. To benefit fully from this potential, the double roller in use should be precise and of high quality.

Our technical experts will have a look at your set-up, adjust it as precisely as possible and support you in choosing the proper adhesive. Our roller specialist is SIMALFA^® 3031, a pressure-sensitive dispersion adhesive with excellent initial adhesion when bonding foams. It can be applied on one side of the materials to be bonded, which makes the whole process very efficient.

Force-dried adhesives for extra speed

Although the drying process of wet-contact adhesives is exceptionally fast, a little rest before the next production step is recommended. Therefore, we developed an adhesive specifically designed for inline production: SIMALFA^® 360. Its drying time is extremely short because of the forced drying process with heat.

Before assembling the workpieces, the applied adhesive is heated up and dried in a heating tunnel. This process only takes a few seconds and activates the sticking power of the adhesive. The strong instant tack and the immediate dry consistency enable further production steps without interruption. The glue lines stay flexible even after drying. This adhesive is perfectly suited to application with a roller coater and is an excellent choice for inline production.

Challenges and benefits of roller coating

As we have seen above, roller coaters can be used for applying naturally dried or force-dried adhesives. Their main field of application is mattress manufacturing. General benefits are the low application quantity required due to the precise adjustment of the roller, the acceleration of production, and the clean work environment. Roller coaters are an essential part of the equipment in inline productions because of their efficiency: For gluing workpieces with a rather large surface and especially when several of the same piece or similar pieces have to be processed, roller coaters are by far the fastest way.

If you would like to hear an expert’s opinion on whether you should invest in a roller coater and what benefits this could bring, our team is happy to answer your questions. If you would like to learn more about the packaging of mattresses after production, read our article on rolled mattresses.

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