Everwide Newsletter No.156

In the industrial process, there is often a process that requires the workpiece to be fixed in advance, then processed, and finally completely fixed or separated from the workpiece. Two types of adhesives are used in this type of process. In the pre-fixing process, the most commonly used adhesive is pressure-sensitive adhesive (such as tape). Everwide Chemical has recently developed a solvent-based pressure-sensitive adhesive that can be printed on film materials (Figure 1). After the solvent dries, it will have the same pressure-sensitive adhesive properties as tape. After covering with a release film, it can be wound up. The release film can be torn off and it can be attached to the glass. It can temporarily fix the glass so that the glass can be fixed during reprocessing (Figure 2). At this time, the pressure-sensitive adhesive can withstand a 50℃ construction environment, and the adhesive strength of the tearing mode is 1.2kg/in² when the film thickness is 25μm (Figure 3). After the processing is completed and irradiated with UV light, the pressure-sensitive adhesive will react further and lose its viscosity so that the tape can be easily removed to complete the debonding action, and it is not easy to leave the adhesive film on the glass (Figure 4).

─Author: Mr. Zhi-Xuan, Chen

About to enter 2014, we began to receive training to prepare for the introduction of the ISO/TS16949 automotive industry quality management system. Reasons for introducing this quality system: 1. Everwide Chemical currently has many products related to automobiles. Obtaining certification can give our customers better quality assurance. 2. We are developing many new materials that lock in the automotive industry, and this certification has become a threshold that must be crossed. 3. Many management tools required by this certification can greatly improve our quality capabilities. For example, advanced product quality planning (APQP) and failure mode (FMEA) are used to make the R&D process more rigorous and achieve the function of error prevention. Through statistical process control (SPC) and measurement system analysis (MSA) two major tools, strengthen the ability of product reliability analysis. From ISO 9001, ISO 14001, OHSAS 18001, TTQS to TS16949, it represents Everwide's continuous pursuit of systematization and rationalization. We hope that by the end of next year, we can report to you the good news of passing the certification.

Liquids with high surface tension cannot spread on solid surfaces with low surface tension. In order to improve this phenomenon, some surfactants are added to the liquid to reduce the surface tension and this type of surfactant is called a wetting agent. The molecule of the wetting agent is composed of two segments of high polarity and low polarity. The high polarity segment is compatible with the liquid, and the low polarity segment points to the external environment, so as to achieve the purpose of reducing surface tension. The method of evaluating the wettability is very simple, as long as a specific weight of liquid (for example, 50mg) is dropped on the surface of the substrate to be evaluated, and the maximum surface area is measured after a certain period of time (in cm²/g). In summary, the wetting ability and fluidity of the resin are two different things. When customers want to improve the fluidity of the colloid, sometimes we need to lower the viscosity, and sometimes we need to reduce the surface tension of the resin this is the reason for the poor fluidity at that time.

The 4-day Taipei Electronics Show in 2013 has finally ended successfully. The theme of the company's exhibition this time is to review the past best-selling products of Everwide, such as: LED potting glue applied to Christmas tree bulbs. Since Christmas bulbs are household items, so our products must comply with UL specifications. The company developed this product in cooperation with customers in 2001, which is the second LED encapsulation resin with UL 94 V-0 flame-retardant specifications in the world. Later, due to the increase in raw material costs and the appearance of low-priced competitive products, this product slowly faded out of the market in 2008. Another example is the adhesive used in traditional mobile phone buttons. The earliest mobile phone button material is PC+Rubber or P+R for short. Since most of the Rubber is Silicone, it needs to be treated by corona or fire, and then glue and PC are applied for bonding. At that time, Everwide had a fairly high market share in P+R adhesives. With the advancement of technology, mobile phone buttons have been changed to a reversal molding method. Compared with the P+R process, it has a faster production capacity, lighter weight, and can also be designed with textures to make products with different textures. At that time, a small flip button needed 1g of glue. Everwide sold 72 tons of materials in this field, which is equivalent to making 72 million mobile phone buttons. It was not until the end that mobile phones with traditional buttons were replaced by touch panels, and related products gradually declined. In addition, exhibits such as solvent-based prepreg resin, OLED sealant, flat cable reinforcing glue, and DVD resin, all reveal the glorious history of the past. The exhibits this time witnessed the continuous advancement of science and technology, the continuous shortening of the product life cycle, the continuous increase of customer development speed, and the continuous raising of strange needs. These are the challenges and issues we have to face. The interaction with many customers at this exhibition gave me a deep understanding: how to make customers who use glue feel that Everwide is not only about mixing and selling glue, but understanding glue. To win the trust of customers, we are willing to give us the opportunity to face unknown challenges together, so as to create our characteristics.

─Author: Mr. Gen-Chang, Shi