The open time of an adhesive is the duration of time available to make a bond after the hotmelt adhesive has been applied.
This may be as little as a couple of seconds with a fast setting packaging adhesive, or up to several minutes for some product assembly adhesives.
The maximum open time of a hotmelt adhesive depends on the temperature of application, the amount of the adhesive applied, the type of substrate, the temperature, and the ambient conditions.
For the highest bond strength it is important to get the parts together as soon as possible after the adhesive has been applied.
As a result of the different factors that can influence open times, it is not simple to quote exact open times for hotmelt adhesives.
The open times of FOSPAT hotmelt adhesives are broadly classified into 3 groups:
| Short: 1-15 seconds Medium: 15-30 seconds Long: 30-60 seconds |