The company was previously outsourcing their door systems but decided to take full control of their production processes and create their own manufacturing facility.
“Solidcor contacted us to see if we could assist in providing an application and adhesive process that could meet their stringent fire resistance testing requirements when manufacturing fire rated doors,” said Bob Lovegrove, Chemique Adhesives business development manager. “As solid timber core doors and coloured skins have grown in popularity, we had recently developed an adhesive ideal for this application that provides a superior bond strength at a competitive price,” explained Lovegrove.
Samples of the solid timber core doors to be bonded were tested in the laboratory by the technical team at Chemique Adhesives and the test results confirmed that a one-component, polyurethane adhesive would be an ideal solution. Solfre 3194 has been specially designed for bonding rigid plastic materials such as PVC, ABS and GRP as well as many standard materials such as timber, rigid foam insulation and steel.
“This technically advanced adhesive is from our Solfre range of laminating adhesives and has been specially developed to meet the demands of Solidcor’s popular range of solid core doors,” commented Lovegrove. “This next generation adhesive adds so much more to the bond compared to other products on the market, for example, when bonding to difficult substrates with a low surface tension, you can be confident that the bond strength will stand the test of time.”
Depending on volume and output requirements, the adhesive can be applied manually or automatically, and Chemique Adhesives offer a variety of application equipment tailored to suit individual needs.
“The solution provided by Chemique Adhesives was exactly what we had been looking for,” said Ashley Smith, operations manager at Solidcor.
“As this was a brand-new process for us, we were more than pleased with Chemique’s knowledge and recommendations. As our range of doors have undergone rigorous safety checks including fire, smoke, weather, security, and endurance testing, it was vital that the adhesive used in the manufacturing process met all fire rating requirements and Chemique were able to supply this along with a cost-effective dispensing system,” she continued.